Centenarian is sent off with a big birthday bash
LW BIRTHDAYS
Mutual 3 resident Doris Thayer celebrated her 100th birthday before saying goodbye to Leisure World after 20 years.
Doris Thayer was born in Drumheller, Alberta, in Canada on Aug. 29, 1922. She celebrated this life achievement with friends and family in Leisure World.
Thayer grew up near Drumheller, the site of the Atlas Coal Mine, now a national historic site that her dad was instrumental in building, which is now the site of the world-famous Royal Tyrrell Museum of Palaeontology.
Thayer first came to California in the early ‘40s to visit her extended family. She loved southern California and was attracted to the area by its warmth, its proximity to Hollywood, the advent of television, and of course, the celebrities. During the war years, Thayer joined the Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service (WAVES), and loved it. WAVES was the women’s branch of the United States Naval Reserve during the war years. She travelled across the United States a number of times with the WAVES and then was posted to a U.S. Naval Hospital in Oregon. After her service with the WAVES, Thayer earned an associate of arts degree from Los Angeles City College.
Thayer taught elementary school for a number of years in Orange County and then moved to the Department of Justice, working in administrative support of the Border Patrol.
In September 2022 an opportunity arose to travel back to Canada to join her sisters and their families in Calgary, Alberta. Thayer made her home in Leisure World in 2001, and her neighbors miss seeing her on her daily walks. She sends regards to her friends in Seal Beach.
Meals on Wheels Long Beach (MOWLB) provided a cake, balloons, and flowers for the celebration. MOWLB volunteers who delivered meals to Thayer became long-term friends, and they are so happy to know Thayer is back with her large family in Canada.
—Randal Park
