BIRTHDAY GIRL Pearl Maley, center, receives encouragement from The Dalles Mayor Steve Lawrence as she blows out the candle on a slice of cake served in celebration of her 100th birthday Feb. 27 at The Springs of Mill Creek in The Dalles. Maley was born March 1, 1915.
BIRTHDAY GIRL Pearl Maley, center, receives encouragement from The Dalles Mayor Steve Lawrence as she blows out the candle on a slice of cake served in celebration of her 100th birthday Feb. 27 at The Springs of Mill Creek in The Dalles. Maley was born March 1, 1915.
In the run-up to her 100th birthday, Pearl Maley celebrated Feb. 27 at The Springs of Mill Creek in The Dalles.
Joining her at the table of honor was her good friend Zel Sellberg, a fellow resident, and special guest Steve Lawrence, mayor of The Dalles, and his wife Donna.
Maley was born March 1, 1915 and raised in Trout Lake. Her parents owned a dairy farm and she was responsible for milking 11 cows by hand each morning and evening, as well as many other farming tasks, until she graduated from Trout Lake High School in 1933, according to information provided by her family.
After graduation, she moved to Portland where she met her husband Max and subsequently had five children: Hedy, Terry, Joe, Steve, and Bill. They all attended local high schools and went on to Oregon State University. She also has seven grandchildren and a small number of great grandchildren.
Marley has a life-long passion for gardening and crafts. For much of her life she had a huge garden, producing all the fruit and vegetables needed to feed her family through the year.
While living on a farm in Hood River, she planted five raspberry plants that eventually became a huge berry patch. Picking those berries is one of the fondest memories of some of her children, her family said.
Maley collected and made dolls, bears, and Christmas tree ornaments for many years and won numerous awards for her work at county fairs. She loved to go to fairs and spent many hours looking at the crafts on display.
She provided her children with many treasured Christmas ornaments, most of which are still used every year. At one time, she and her husband Max enjoyed square dancing once or twice a week and they became renown in the dancing community for their skills and Pearl’s colorful dresses.
After Max retired, the couple traveled extensively, including a complete tour of Alaska when the roads were far more primitive, and a trip down the Baja Peninsula. For many years they spent winters in Arizona to escape the Northwest’s cold.
Her son Terry said Maley always has a ready smile and kind word about everyone — nothing ever seems to upset her — not even her sometimes “out-of-control children.”
He said she has loved long visit in Joanne’s Fabric store in The Dalles, where she could browse and dream about the sewing and crafting possibility.
Although Maley enjoyed having cake to mark her 100th year, her favorite dessert is maple nut ice cream.
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