Gladys Swetland Turns 112 On April 18

When Pennsylvania Governor Edward Rendell made plans to visit Potter County for the bicentennial celebration last month, a visit to the woman believed to be Pennsylvania's oldest citizen was high on his agenda. Gladys Swetland greeted the governor as he stepped off the elevator at Charles Cole Memorial Hospital, where she currently resides in the Long Term Care Unit. After a little kidding as Rendell asked Miss Swetland where he might find a 111-year-old lady, she led him down the hall where she played a piano selection and he presented her with a citation honoring her for her many contributions to life in Pennsylvania through the years.

Gladys Swetland was born on April 18, 1892 at the family home in Mills, which she still maintains. Her father, Charles (Chet) Swetland ("always a carpenter" ) developed four sawmills  in the northern Potter County community and thus the little village took its name - Mills. Her mother, Kate Dowd Swetland, took her civic responsibility seriously and "was always working for the poor" making food, attending to the sick and assisting in childbirth. Gladys, the youngest of four siblings, describes herself as a tomboy who never walked - "I ran!"

"The whole town was a playground,"  she says reflecting on a childhood described as happy, though she acknowledges her older brothers and sister thought her "quite spoiled." She remembered that her father "never scolded" her for her antics.

One of her earliest memories is of a house full of men (workers in the sawmills) who came daily to the house for their noon meal. "I was a pest and my mother had to put up a gate, for the men would delight in feeding me morsels from the table." She also recalls the time when, at age 12, she took three other children for a ride in the family horse-drawn buggy, and ended up driving into the creek. Repairs, she says, were extensive, done by the Mills blacksmith.

At age three, Gladys took her first train ride alone (with doll and satchel) to visit her grandparents in Harrison Valley. Neighbors cautioned her mother that she would "lose that child" if she allowed her to travel solo, but her mother calmly responded that she didn't think so. That independence has continued throughout Gladys' life. She has traveled across the country and to Hawaii, both alone and accompanied by friends. She says she decided to never marry after seeing the problems a poor match had brought to another part of the family.

Music plays a vital role in her life; she has played the piano since age four. Although she plays by ear since her vision has failed, she is quick to note that she was an accomplished musician trained in reading music. She played the organ, mandolin and guitar. Her family nurtured this love of music and Gladys recalls playing the church organ as a young girl while her brother was underneath pumping the pedals she couldn't reach.

The  family home in Mills, "Chesterwood," was built by her father as a wedding gift to her mother. It is full of memories, music and photographs. A baby grand piano in the front parlor which had belonged to a college chum who passed away, was given to Gladys many years ago. The latest addition to Chesterwood is a gazebo located in the side lawn. In contracting with a local carpenter to build the structure about three years ago, Gladys related that she had always wanted a gazebo and she was going to have one!
She speaks lovingly of the rambling old house which boasts two upstairs sleeping porches. She tended large gardens over the years and particularly enjoyed growing flowers.
Gladys began her life's work as a teacher in 1910, the year she graduated from the Harrison Valley School. As was common in those days, she took an examination which allowed her to teach locally and then earned enough money to go away to college. She attended Eastern Michigan Teachers College and then spend 16 years teaching fifth and sixth grades in Detroit, Michigan.

Gladys taught school through both World Wars, and recalls the announcement of the Armistice which ended World War I. "A knock came at the door and it was the principal. He said 'the armistice has signed.' The whole class rose right up and made for the door. There wasn't a child who didn't have someone in the war - brothers, cousins, fathers, uncles. I looked out the window and watched the celebration in the courtyard." There were no more classes that day. The illness of her mother brought her back to Potter County and she embarked on a career as a kindergarten and elementary school teacher. She taught in a private kindergarten and then spent nearly 40 years as a third grade teacher in Harrison Valley. She retired from teaching when she was 70 but continued to substitute until she was 78.
Church also played a vital role in her life. She was organist and pianist at the Mills Union Church, playing well into the 21st century, and also was a director of both the senior and junior choirs over the years.

Gladys voted at the first opportunity - in 1920. She doesn't remember whether she voted Democratic or Republican, just that she "votes for the best candidate."
She recalls her earlier years as "a happy time, not like now." Along with the negatives she sees today - lack of school discipline, racial strife, alcoholism - she says there have been positives. One of the biggest physical advances since her birth, according to Gladys, are paved roads; the road in front of her home was paved in 1929
As she approaches 112, Gladys doesn't dwell her advanced age and wonders aloud what all the fuss is about as plans are completed for special birthday celebrations by family and friends. The staff of the Long Term Care Unit, along with Gladys' family and friends, plans a birthday party on Sunday and the Coudersport Rotary Club will honor her on Monday.

Published April 14th, 2004
Photograph taken from www.psers.state. pa.us also pictured are Sally Turley (pictured on right), Roger May (pictured standing on left), and Veronica Thomas (kneeling).

Marguerite Gladys Swetland dead at 113

Published Saturday, December 17, 2005

COUDERSPORT, Pa. -- Marguerite Gladys Swetland, 113, of Pennsylvania died
Thursday, Dec. 15, 2005, at Charles Cole Memorial Hospital. Among her survivors are cousins Mark W. Swetland of Sun City Hilton Head, Jason
H. Stevens of Indigo Run, and Paul J. Swetland and Carolyn Butler of Moss Creek Plantation.

She was born April 18, 1892, daughter of Chester A. and Kate Doud Swetland. At the time of her death, she was considered the oldest living person in Pennsylvania, the fourth-oldest living person in the United States and the ninth-oldest living person on the list of supercentenarians, those of 110 years or older. She taught school in the Detroit and Harrison Valley, Pa., areas for more than 50 years. She was a talented pianist and organist. When asked to play at her 100th birthday party, she chose to play "The Impossible Dream." In the hospital, she played from memory for the patients because she could no longer see the music.

Visitation will be from noon to 1 p.m. today, with services immediately following at Mills Union Church in Mills, Pa. Caywood Funeral Home and Garden in Elmira, N.Y., is in charge of arrangements.