Brian Roebke photo
Germaine Smith celebrated 100 years of life at Sunday’s 10 a.m. Mass at St. Clare Parish in Wrightstown with her daughters, Joane Rudolph (left) and Diane Tolan.
By Brian Roebke
Editor
St. Clare Catholic Parish helped Germaine Smith celebrate 100 years of life at Sunday’s 10 a.m. Mass in Wrightstown.
Smith was born on a farm in the Town of Buchanan to Arnold and Mary (Nytes) Verbeten, and still lives on her own in a house in the village of Wrightstown, not far from the church.
“I don’t feel any different than I did maybe 20 years ago, other than I have to be very careful about walking,” she said.
After the family lost their farm during the depression, the family moved to Wrightstown.
“I went to a little school until seventh grade, then we moved down here,” she said, noting she was baptized, made her first communion, was confirmed, and married at the church in Wrightstown.
She married Douglas Smith and they had six children, five of whom are still alive and living all over the country.
With none of them in the area, her friends and neighbors watch over her and they feel it a privilege to know her.