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Celebrating A Century With Cora Spaulding

photo by Kathy Douglas Celebrating her 100th, Cora Spaulding looks to the future with spirit and spunk.

Tuesday October 18, 2011

By Cookie Steponaitis

   When asked what you will be doing on your 100th birthday, most Americans would probably shake their heads in wonder and doubt that they would live to see a century mark. Yet the term centurion is not science fiction anymore for many Americans. It is a reality. Joining this group with a firm grasp on reality and what it takes to live 100 years as an Addison County resident is Cora Spaulding. While she will acknowledge that reaching 100 years of age and the fact that she still lives in her own home as quite a big deal, Cora places the emphasis on where she feels it should be, the family and upbringing that has carried her to her 100th year.

    While she acknowledges both her parents were very strict, her dad loved a good joke and had a great sense of humor. Cora’s father John was a state legislator, school board member and later School Superintendent.  “Both my parents had spunk,” remarked Cora. “And that stayed with me too.”  Cora’s mother unfortunately passed away when she was very young, but Cora and her older sister Helen were close their whole lives. “One advancement that has come in the last century that I admire is in medicine,” shared Cora. “Both my mother and my sister passed away of conditions that are now curable. For those of you who take medicines for granted, imagine a time when it was not plentiful and you simply did not survive many conditions that today are managed with medicine.”

    While Cora has strong memories of Addison County and wonderful excursions in her family’s Model T, it was hearing her father’s stories about Oregon and other parts of America that fueled her passion and her future. At a time in America young women did not travel cross country and certainly not without a chaperone. Cora was not deterred, drove herself to Oregon and proceeded to live on her own and make her own way taking care of all of her own business.  She worked for several large companies and actually set up accounting and business practices for major companies. “I worked for Grand Union as their regional bookkeeper in Pittsfield, Mass.  From there I then worked for the Paradise Restaurant in Bennington, Vermont.  Work became scarce so when my cousins in Portland, Oregon told me to come out, that there was work there.” This all occurred during World War II and Cora remembers attending dances and fundraisers for money for our troops.

    While Cora had her foot firmly in a world that was run by men, she says that she never felt second rate or certainly not second class. Promoted many times, she often was the manger training the entire staffs of Grand Unions all over New England. She oversaw the training and installations of programs involving clerks, accountants, cashiers and managers. Known for her even keel attitude, wit and excellence in her work ethic and performance, Cora shared special memories of parties given at her retirement where people from all over the company came to thank her and share what she had taught them.

    While Cora suspects that 100 will look pretty much the same as 99, she acknowledges that her lifetime has seen changes and that she is amazed at the continuing speed with which people, technology and life are changing. For Cora, the essence of her century comes down to the things that are the most important, her family, her home, her gardens, and her spunk, wit and diligence in her career. The Valley Voice salutes Cora Spaulding and welcomes her to that exclusive club of Americans who lived the century of greatest change and with their work, attitude and innovativeness, but America on the map! And now ask yourself the question, “Where will you be on your 100th birthday?”

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