Shaw’s parents, Lester and Ivadene Claycomb, were truck drivers who often made long hauls in their diesel rig to Homestead, Florida, to pick up produce.

Like her parents, Shaw, of East Freedom, enjoys spending time on the go and has been an avid biker since 1996, when she purchased her first Honda GoldWing trike, a purple bike she later traded in for the white one she has now.

Shaw used to belong to clubs and ride with large groups of people, but many of her friends, her husband and their son have since passed away, so she only rides her trike when her friends, Don and Patty Malone of Altoona, are available to go with her.

Shaw doesn’t like riding by herself, but said she never truly rides alone because “the good Lord” is always with her.

Dorla Shaw shows off one of her many coffee pots at her home in East Freedom. Last summer, Shaw drove 300 miles one way to Maryland to buy a coffee pot and brought it back home the same day. Mirror photo by Matt Churella

Last summer, Shaw put 8,284 miles on her trike. In one trip, she drove over 300 miles to purchase a coffee pot from someone in Maryland.

Shaw collects colorful and unique coffee pots and enjoys decorating her house from October to April.

Throughout Shaw’s house, various figurines and ceramics that she made are on display.

“Everything I have holds a memory,” Shaw said.

In her bathroom, Shaw’s rugs are green. She has a bush by her living room window with green lights on it for St. Patrick’s Day, and her kitchen table is decorated with a green cloth.

Every month, she changes the colors of her decorations and of her coffee pots. She has cabinets full of various-colored coffee pots, but is still on the hunt for a purple one.

“You have to clean them every month anyhow, so when I clean them, I change the colors,” Shaw said, adding she had a red coffee pot out for Christmas last year.

In the spring and summer months, she stays active and loves to clean her house and do yard work.

Shaw, who was the head cook at the Presbyterian Village in Hollidaysburg for several decades, also loves to cook and bake pies “just for something to do.”

A lifetime of hard work can be read in Shaw’s hands, according to longtime friend Kathleen Casher, who grew up across the street from the Claycombs when she was younger.

From Casher’s bedroom window, she could have stepped outside onto one of the Claycombs’ many diesel rig trucks, which often gave a “comforting sound” to listen to, she said.

“We never complained about their trucks. They were nice people and nice neighbors,” Casher said, noting Shaw’s mother played the piano by ear and kept her house “meticulously clean.”

Casher said she admired the Claycombs’ work ethic and their appreciation of what they had.

When Shaw was growing up, her mother gave her a doll with red hair that was dressed in pink and told her to take care of it.

“Mother said, ‘That’s the only doll you’ll ever get.’ I was too scared to play with it,” Shaw said, adding the wide variety of toys available for kids today is “something else.”

“I think having a small amount of things and appreciating what you have and working hard to get it, it makes you appreciate it more, and I think it comes from the way you were raised,” Casher told Shaw.

Against her parents’ wishes, Shaw had Cochlear implant surgery in 1985, a procedure in which an electronic device was implanted in her ear to restore her profound hearing loss.

Shaw’s mother liked “natural healing,” according to Casher, who said Shaw’s parents reportedly didn’t believe in taking Tylenol for headaches, either.

Back then, drugs weren’t available like they are now, Shaw said, noting there’s a pill for everything now, but she doesn’t take pills.

Perhaps her secret to a long life, Shaw said, is the fact that she never drank an ounce of alcohol and she enjoys exercising.

Since she doesn’t go out of the house often, it’s rare that she runs into longtime friends like Casher, Shaw said.

But when the two got together, memories from their days as neighbors came flooding back like no time had passed, as they sat and talked for nearly two hours, reminiscing about old times.

Mirror Staff Writer Matt Churella is at 814-946-7520.

The Shaw file

Name: Dorla Shaw

Age: 88

Education: Hollidaysburg Area School District, Class of 1956

Career: Made ceramics; former head cook for Presbyterian Village in Hollidaysburg

Family: Husband, Charles Shaw; son, Ron Shaw; parents, Lester and Ivadene Claycomb; siblings: Althea, Terry, Carol, Judy, Barry and Sharon

Hobbies: Collecting unique and colorful coffee pots, riding her Honda GoldWing trike, making ceramics, cooking and keeping busy with house and yard work.