Nordic dancers help celebrate Laurie's 105th birthday

If you're searching for the fountain of youth, a great grandmother in Lombard is willing to show you her secret to success.

Mabel "Laurie" Paddleford recently celebrated her 105th birthday with a big Nordic dance bash.

Team members from her home at Beacon Hill senior living community in Lombard spent months planning the party. Laurie enjoyed listening to the music and watching The Nordic Folk Dancers take the stage.

More than 100 residents, team members and Laurie's family members attended the celebration.

Laurie grew up in Fort Dodge, Iowa, and later settled down in Downers Grove to begin a teaching career. In 1939, she became a home lighting adviser for ComEd.

It was there that she met Merton Paddleford, an electrical engineer also employed by the company. They were married March 8, 1941, in the chapel of First Methodist Church in Oak Park.

A superb homemaker admired for her organizational skills, her cooking, love of entertaining, and her artistic sensibility, Laurie also has worked as a substitute teacher in the Oak Park schools and as a library assistant at Hawthorne School. Her volunteer work includes many activities at First Methodist Church and service for the Girl Scouts, PEO Sisterhood, Tri-Delta Sorority, Infant Welfare and 19th Century Women's Club.

For 19 years she was chair woman of the West Suburban Hospital Surgical Lounge volunteers, who provide special care for families with loved ones undergoing surgery. Throughout her adult life she has pursued intensive Bible study through many classes. Her vibrancy, goodwill and humor are admired by those who know her.

Laurie has traveled widely with her family and friends both in and outside the United States.

She has been an active part of the Beacon Hill community for 18 years. She enjoys exercise classes five days a week and still reads and writes nearly every day.