Sanatoga Resident Celebrates 102nd Birthday

Dorothy Cassell turned 102 years old Wednesday.

There aren't too many "veterans" of global pandemics, but one of them lives off Evergreen Road.

Dorothy Cassell, known to nearly everyone in Sanatoga Center as "Dot," massed the 102-year mile marker Wednesday and got a present most of us have yearned for for more than a year — a hug from a close relative.

Cassell's sister Mary Jackson, who resides in Douglassville, doesn't live too far away but for the past year it might as well have been on the other side of the world.

Social distancing restrictions have meant no closer than six feet and no physical contact — until now.

Dorothy Cassell, 102, left, gets a long-awaited birthday

hug from her sister, Mary Jackson, 93.

According to the latest update from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, "we acknowledge the toll that separation and isolation has taken. We also acknowledge that there is no substitute for physical contact, such as the warm embrace between a resident and their loved one. Therefore, if the resident is fully vaccinated, they can choose to have close contact (including touch) with their visitor while wearing a well-fitting face mask and performing hand-hygiene before and after."

"I'm very grateful," said Mary when she was informed she could hug her sister for her birthday.

Cassell, who was born in 1919, said she was born after the pandemic of 1918, but that disaster actually lasted until April of 1920.

It infected 500 million people — about a third of the world's population at the time — in four successive waves.

Cassell was born in Spring Mount to Charles and Carrie Roshong, one of seven children.

The middle child, Cassell and her sister are the only two siblings remaining.

Cassell's husband, Arthur, died at age 89 and Donald, her only child, died 11 years ago. She has four grandchildren.

State Rep. Joe Ciresi wishing Cassell a happy birthday.

Asked the secret of her longevity, Cassell, who was a treasurer for the Order of the Eastern Star, said simply "God put me here."

Although a fan of jazz music, Cassell said she never mastered the Jitterbug.

Neither, he admitted, has state Rep. Joe Ciresi, D-146th Dist.

Ciresi was on hand for Cassell's birthday festivities Wednesday and said the state legislature had provided her with an official citation on the occasion of her 100th birthday and was being a bit stingy about offering another.

So Ciresi provided one of his own, noting as far as he's concerned, once you pass 100 you should get one every year.