100 YEARS YOUNG CANOGA PARK WOMAN CELEBRATES THE CENTURY MARK.Byline: MARK KELLAM Valley News Writer Dee Woodward's secret to a long life? ``Some ancestor ANCESTOR, descents. One who has preceded another in a direct line of descent; an ascendant. In the common law, the word is understood as well of the immediate parents, as, of these that are higher; as may appear by the statute 25 Ed. III. De natis ultra mare, and so in the statute of 6 R. stuck me with these genes,'' she said with a wry smile. The Canoga Park resident turned 100 on May 10, and her friends and family threw her a birthday party in the community room of the mobile home park where she lives. Dee has lived in the Valley for more than 75 years. When she was 22, she moved here with her first husband and their young son, Ed. While the marriage didn't last long, her love for Southern California Southern California, also colloquially known as SoCal, is the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. Centered on the cities of Los Angeles and San Diego, Southern California is home to nearly 24 million people and is the nation's second most populated region, remained strong. Her husband returned to the Midwest, but Woodward stayed, moved in with her sister and raised Ed. At age 25, she married Marvin Woodward, and they were together until his death in 1971. Marvin was an animator for Disney. ``He created the `Sorcerer's Apprentice' in `Fantasia fantasia (făntā`zhə) [Ital.,=fancy], musical composition not restricted to a formal design, but constructed freely in the manner of an improvisation. In the 16th and 17th cent. ,''' Dee said. One of her most vivid memories of the Valley was a flood that hit in 1937. The Woodwards lived on the corner of Addison Street and Whitsett Avenue in North Hollywood. A school bus filled with children was stranded near her home because of overflowing washes. She took all the children into her house, where they stayed until the flooding subsided. ``We had a bus full of children in our house. They had to sleep on the floor. We didn't have enough beds,'' Dee recalled, shaking her head in amused a·muse tr.v. a·mused, a·mus·ing, a·mus·es 1. To occupy in an agreeable, pleasing, or entertaining fashion. 2. disbelief. When Dee married Marvin, he had a pretty well-known community leader standing beside him at the altar 7/8 Buron Fitts, who was then the district attorney for Los Angeles Los Angeles (lôs ăn`jələs, lŏs, ăn`jəlēz'), city (1990 pop. 3,485,398), seat of Los Angeles co., S Calif.; inc. 1850. County. Marvin was a friend of Marie Keller, the first female court reporter in L.A., Dee said. Marie was also Dee's sister. Through those connections, Fitts ended up being Marvin's best man. Now, Dee enjoys reading, often breezing through three or four books Four Books Chinese Sishu Ancient Confucian texts used as the basis of study for civil service examinations (see Chinese examination system) in China (1313–1905). a week. One of her favorite pastimes is reading restaurant reviews by L.A. Daily News food critic The terms food critic, food writer, and restaurant critic can all be used to describe a writer who analyses food or restaurants and then publishes the results of their findings. Larry Lipson. Then she enjoys going to the profiled restaurants and comparing her opinions with Lipson's. Whether she agrees or not, she always gets a kick out of going to a new restaurant and sampling the fare. CAPTION(S): photo Photo: Dee Woodward of Canoga Park is queen for the day at the party her friends and family held to celebrate her 100th birthday. Mark Kellam/Valley News |
|
||||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion