Parade of fire trucks put exclamation on 103rd birthday for Medina woman
Photos by Ginny Kropf: Fire trucks from Medina, Shelby and East Shelby pull into Medina Memorial Hospital in a parade to help North Wing resident Ruth Harold celebrate her 103rd birthday Feb. 13.
Ruth Harold, a resident of the North Wing at Medina Memorial Hospital, is all decked out for her 103rd birthday party.
MEDINA – Ruth Harold got to celebrate her 103rd birthday with a very special treat.
A resident of Medina Memorial Hospital’s North Wing, Harold was honored on Friday with a parade of fire trucks from Shelby and East Shelby and a Medina ambulance, who drove through the circle under her window and blew their sirens.
Harold was born Feb. 13, 1918 in Wolcottsville, where she grew up. She married the late Robert Clark, and they had three children, Betty, Kent and Karen. They raised their family in Middleport, where she worked many jobs, but the most rewarding, she said, was babysitting.
Harold told the nurses in the North Wing that when she was younger, “everything was exciting to me.” The first car she ever saw was a Ford Model T. She remembers her grandfather living with them, and she he was a big shot in the Army. He was very important to her, she said, and they had a big memorial for him after he died.
Harold has been a resident of the North Wing since January 2011. She likes to nap and get her nails done. She loves jewelry and the latest fashions. She never thought she’d live to be this age, she said.
“Can you believe I’m over 100,” she asked on Friday as they waited for her parade of fire trucks. “The firemen are coming for me.”
Harold was happy to see to procession of fire trucks and the hoopla for birthday.
“She was absolutely thrilled,” said Niccole Nicholson, a social worker in the North Wing.
Ruth Harold’s window of her room in the North Wing of Medina Memorial Hospital overlooks the drive, where fire trucks from Shelby, East Shelby and Medina and a Medina ambulance paraded in front and blew their sirens on Friday afternoon, in celebration of Harold’s 103rd birthday Feb. 13.
