Her smile was sunshine between cloudbursts.
It was Dorothy Shearer Cohen’s 100th birthday – to be celebrated by those wearing facemasks and maintaining safe distancing. The UW Husky Alumni Marching Band was tuning up. Police and fire department escorts lined the cul-de-sac and driveway. Cars, trucks and other vehicles were decorated with signs and helium balloons, ready for action. And then, the rains came down and the clouds came in.
However, precisely at 3:00 pm starting time, the sky cleared. The sun came out. Dorothy, a resident at The Lodge in Renton, waved, cried and “had a ball” watching the start of a parade in her honor. The Lodge, a Gen Care facility, had been in quarantine since eight residents and three employees had tested positive for Covid-19, the rapidly spreading coronavirus.
Health conditions at The Lodge put the Shearer family into action. In lieu of a “Chicago 1920’s 100thBirthday Party” (planned for indoors), they rescheduled a party and devised plans for a parade instead. Dorothy’s daughter, Joan, flew in from Arizona fully protected. She hung laminated copies of a March 2020 VOICE of the Valley article “everywhere.” The VOICE article and photos had documented Dorothy’s history during the Roaring Twenties. It told of their time spent in Maple Valley where Dorothy started two businesses on their 11-acre farm, and it mentioned the years her children spent in Tahoma School District. Joan’s goal in posting the laminated copies was to “rally everyone to keep mom from getting the virus”. She delivered fabric, elastic, pipe cleaners, and filters to family and friends. They made masks for all residents and employees at The Lodge. A strike team from the UW arrived to test everyone at the facility. While Joan and family could only contact their mother by phone, they could arrange to keep her safe. “She is fine,” Joan reported, “She is good! Yay!!!”
