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A major milestone: Ashville veteran turns 100

Mary Lidwell served as a ‘Rosie the Riveter’ before becoming Marine reservist

By William Kibler 5 min read

When someone has lived an exceptionally long time, it's natural to wonder how they made it.

Mary Lidwell of Ashville turns 100 today, and in addition to honesty and keeping busy, she credits learning "to do without," she said at a surprise birthday party Tuesday at the Van Zandt VA Medical Center.

Growing up during the Great Depression as one of seven kids on a farm in Amsbry, then in nearby Ashville, Mary Suckinos often did without. She played baseball with a pool ball and even an apple, took bobby pins from her sleeping sister that she needed for herself, harvested coal that trainmen charitably tossed off passing cars for the benefit of nearby families, swept classrooms for bus fare in high school, and took only a few piano lessons from the nuns, because "my mother didn't have that kind of money."

Yet Mary, whose father repaired shoes and made moonshine for a living, managed to cobble together a rich military life for herself first as an airplane repair worker -- an original "Rosie the Riveter" -- then became a Marine reservist during World War II; and eventually a life member of the VFW.

She also cultivated a rich family life -- her five children are her "greatest accomplishment," she said Tuesday.

Her oldest, Blaise, is deceased, but the others, Mark, Amy, Carrie and Pat, were at the surprise party, which took place after Lidwell's annual checkup at the hospital.

Seeing her children, other relatives and hospital staffers caused her to shed a few tears, one of the few times that has happened, one of her children said.

If the rarity of tears reflects a toughness born of doing without, it may also reflect painful childhood experiences like breaking her arm at a ballfield in Coupon while visiting her grandmother, who yanked her arm back into place, applied a splint, then sent her home three miles through the woods. That was the day after she got a black eye playing baseball with a sphere meant for billiards, Lidwell recalled.

After graduating from Gallitzin High School in 1942, long before women's liberation, she took a civil service exam.

She had an aptitude for technical work, and was accepted into the Pennsylvania School of Aeronautics.

With a friend, she took a train to Harrisburg, where the school was located, and learned to weld, solder, buck rivets and splice cable, commuting to school on foot the 20 blocks between her rented room and the Farm Show Arena, where classes were held.

Upon graduation, she and the friend got a job as assemblers at the Middletown Air Depot, where they repaired wings, rudders and ailerons on war-damaged fighters and bombers, so those planes could return to action.

She worked with both women and men, although most of the men were "disabled" in some way that kept them from being in the active military, Lidwell said.

She sent part of the $50 a month she earned back to her family in Cambria County.

On the fuselages of many of the planes were pictures of women, pinup style, along with names, she said, recalling that actress Betty Grable was a frequent subject.

She also remembers that there was a girl who worked in the parachute department who was caught cutting the cords, according to a rumor.

"She was a spy of some kind," Lidwell said.

In 1944, Lidwell joined the Marine Corps Reserve, going through boot camp in North Carolina.

There was lots of exercising, drills that included wearing gas masks in a chamber full of gas, along with guard duty at night.

They would wake her up, hand her a club and make her go outside in the dark for two hours.

Her next station was the Naval Air Technical Training Center in Norman, Okla., for certification, then on to the Aviation Women's Reserve Squadron at an air station in El Toro, Calif., where she learned to start airplane engines.

Once, when one of her brothers visited, they went to Hollywood together.

The New York girls taught her the jitterbug, she said.

She liked the "military part" of her experiences -- marching to and from lunch, singing their marching songs.

She liked the structure, daughter Amy said.

She still "likes things done a certain way," daughter Carrie added.

Lidwell left the service in September 1946 and returned to Ashville, where she married Navy veteran Robert Lidwell that same year.

Until a few years ago, she fired her own coal furnace, took out the ashes and baked bread and pies, her children said.

In addition to playing the piano, she has painted in oils, is a whiz at crossword puzzles and has read extensively.

She likes mysteries and historical novels, including "War and Peace" and "Gone with the Wind." And she likes the work of fellow Pennsylvanian James Michener.

She's a dedicated Pirates fan, win or lose.

Bill Mazeroski is her all-time favorite, she said.

Mirror Staff Writer William Kibler is at 814-949-7038.

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