A large crowd gathered Saturday morning at the St. Charles Borromeo Catholic Church parish hall to celebrate the 100th birthday of Burlington resident Dolores Andersen.
Father Sylvester Nnaso, pastor of the Hampshire church, said Anderson has been a lifelong parishioner.
“She was baptized here,” Nnaso said. “She has been a member of our parish all of her life. She likes to sit in the second pew on the left during mass. It’s her favorite pew.”
Dolores was one of nine children born to George and Josephine Herrmann. Dolores said that she and her siblings attended the Schultz one-room school for students from first to eighth grade. Dolores graduated from eighth grade but did not continue her education because the high school was too far away from the family farm. There were no school buses in the area at that time. She said that if she had continued her schooling, she would have become either a beautician or a nurse.
Dolores met her husband, Everett Andersen, at the Blue Moon dance hall in Elgin when she was 18. The couple married when Dolores was 23. They lived in Elburn and Streator before they came back to run the Andersen family farm along Baseline Road three miles west of Burlington. They ran the farm for 35 years.
Everett and Dolores had three children: Jim, Ken and Joyce (Dunlap). Joyce lives in Burlington, Ken lives in Sycamore, and Jim resides in Wisconsin.
In addition to her children, Dolores has 12 grandchildren, 36 great-grandchildren, and 8 great-great-grandchildren.
Everett and Dolores moved from the farm to their home on Main Street in Burlington in 1976. Everett served as the village president of Burlington for 14 years. He passed away in 1995.
Dolores still lives in the same house that she once shared with her husband. Family members help with the housework, laundry and yardwork.
“She still bakes pies and cookies,” Joyce said.
“My grandmother is quite a lady,” said Nick Andersen of Sycamore. “She knows everything. She’s been there, done that, and seen it all. I enjoyed spending vacations with her and my grandfather on their farm. I rode a tractor when I was 10 years old.”
Nick’s wife, Michelle, and their daughter, Samantha, put up the birthday decorations in the parish hall. They also helped Dolores shop for her birthday party dress over the internet. They looked at more than 30 dresses before finding the right one.
Birthday guests were treated to a breakfast buffet and two birthday cakes. Bethany Williams of Georgia, who makes cakes for a living, baked one of the cakes for her great-grandmother.
Michelle said they have been working on the party for the past several months.
“You can see by all the people here today how much she is loved,” Michelle said. “The secret to her long life is that she has always had a lot of love. She was a farmer’s daughter and a farmer’s wife. She had loving parents, a loving husband, and a loving family.”
“My mother is a farm gal,” said Ken. “She ate all the good foods that she and her family raised or grew on the farm. She still eats food prepared in an iron skillet. She is an amazing person who can still remember birthdays.”
Hampshire resident Arlene Reiser said Dolores helped out when the church was putting its history together.
“Dolores can tell you dates, and she’s always right,” Reiser said. “She is such a blessing.”
Belvidere residents Wayne Butz and Nancy Hyland drove out to Hampshire to celebrate their cousin’s 100th birthday.
“Dolores has been living in this area all of her life,” Butz said. “We keep in touch by phone and letter. She visited us last Christmas. She is a sharp lady and an excellent role model.”
South Elgin resident Danielle Sundvall said she once attended St. Charles Borromeo Catholic School with Megan Todd, one of Dolores’s granddaughters.
“Megan and I played on the basketball team together,” Sundvall said. “Her grandparents came to all of our games. They were our biggest fans.”
Dolores often meets her friends, Hampshire residents Isabelle Duddleston and Mary Jane Emory, at Midtown Beauty Shop in Hampshire. They also belong to the church’s Golden Agers group and like to take rides on the Hampshire Township senior bus. Trudy Wesemann of Hampshire is one of the bus drivers who takes her passengers to places like restaurants and stores.
Former Hampshire resident Bonnie Engel, who now resides in Florida, said Dolores is her aunt. Engel has childhood memories of visiting the farm.
“I remember playing with the kittens, looking at the pigs, and eating fresh vegetables,” Engel said. “It’s been wonderful having Dolores in my life.”
Denise Moran is a freelance reporter.
