Gilpin woman says 100 ‘doesn’t feel any different,’ celebrates with family
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Alice Newton turned 100 having a great hair day.
She still makes her weekly hair appointments in Leechburg and was coiffed and ready to usher in triple digits on Friday.
Relaxing by the fire in her rural Gilpin home, Alice chimed in on her new centenarian status.
“I”ll tell ya, it doesn’t feel any different,” she said. “To celebrate, be with family … that’s the number one.”
Newton lives with her daughter-in-law, Patty Newton, on 100-plus acres that once served as a family weekend destination. She planned on enjoying a glass of wine, pizza and cake for her birthday supper.
A second, larger birthday gathering at the Marconi Club in Leechburg was planned for Saturday.
Newton has osteoporosis and uses a wheelchair, but that doesn’t deter her from traveling with family.
“We go every year to our lake house in upper New York on Lake Ontario,” said granddaughter Christina Gross of Gilpin. “I have both of my grandmas in my life and that’s exciting. She’s a go-getter.”
Newton recovered from ovarian cancer — twice — and is in remission again.
A stroke a few years ago sidelined her for a while.
“She keeps going,” Gross said. “She says, ‘Try your best and work hard.’”
Gross said seeing her grandmother endure tragedy was difficult.
“She buried her husband and son within six months of each other. She was upset, but had her family around her.”
Alice (Hopkins) Newton grew up on Kimball Avenue in Arnold. Except for a two-year stint in San Diego during her marriage, the Alle-Kiski Valley has been a constant during her life.
Describing her childhood as “happy,” she spent countless weekends at her family’s farmhouse in Gilpin.
She enrolled in nursing school after graduating from the former Arnold High School in 1939.
A member of the University of Pittsburgh’s first nursing class, she met her future husband, Dr. Rex Newton, then a medical student, when a fellow nursing classmate played matchmaker.
Newton worked for almost five years as a nurse, specifically caring for coal miners, before marrying Rex in 1947 at Crossroads Community Presbyterian Church in Leechburg.
She left nursing for homemaking and raised the couple’s two children.
She has four grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.
Granddaughter Christina said her signature homemade spaghetti and homemade sauce is a fond memory.
Newton was an avid bowler, active in a bridge club and loved reading until her eyesight deteriorated.
“I’m excited because she is still healthy, still has her mind and can do little things,” Patty Newton said.