Woman celebrates 104th birthday

DURHAM — Velma Rock celebrated her 104th birthday with a party surrounded by friends at Harmony Homes, an assisted living facility in Durham. She was born on April 21, 1913.

Rock lived in her Exeter childhood home all of her life until she turned 100, when she settled into Harmony Homes. She outlived her mother, father, brother and two sisters. She never had children, but has a niece and other relatives that visit, although many have moved out of New Hampshire.

Rock worked at Exeter & Hampton Electric Company, now known as Unitil Corporation in Kensington, until retiring.

A woman of few words, Rock keeps to herself and seldom complains, according to her friend, Leona Bourgeois. Bourgeois is also a Harmony Homes resident, along with her husband, Gus Bourgeois.

“She doesn’t bother anybody or get mad, except when somebody else’s walker is in her place or they sit in her seat at lunch” Bourgeois said. “She doesn’t swear, even though I think she’d like to sometimes.”

Rock is a creature of habit: she goes to the hairdresser for a “perm” every two weeks like clockwork.

She also misses her home that she grew up and grew old in every day.

“It was a comfortable place to live in all those years. It was old, just like me,” She said with a laugh.

Rock can eat a whole box of Whitman’s assorted chocolates, without anyone’s help. She grew up with a sweet tooth and enjoyed her celebratory piece of chocolate cake for the special occasion.

When asked if chocolate is the recipe for a long and healthy life, she mischievously replied, “It could be.”

She has kept a good sense of humor and has friends like Bourgeois who keep her laughing by telling her jokes. Their friendship is built around laughter, Bourgeois said.

Rock likes to spend her time reading, sewing, and getting occasional visits from her niece. Rock’s favorite pastime when she was younger was frolicking around Hampton Beach. Her favorite way of getting there were the electric trolley cars via the Exeter Railway, which were once Hampton Beach’s backbone for growth back in the late 1800s.

Rock watches television often, but switches it off when she sees news about shootings, calling the senseless violence “awful tragedies.”

What Bourgeois most admires about Rock is her independence and kind-hearted nature.

“She’s got more wits about her than most people 20 years younger than her do, and she knows how to take care of herself,” Bourgeois said. “People in here respect her for how very well she does on her own. There’s nobody better.”