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Lillian Bledsoe, an accomplished hiker who’s trekked the entirety of the Appalachian Trail, turned 100 in Kissimmee last week. PHOTO/KEN JACKSON -
Lillian Bledsoe, an accomplished hiker who’s trekked the entirety of the Appalachian Trail, turned 100 in Kissimmee last week. PHOTO/KEN JACKSON
Longtime Kissimmee and Good Samaritan Village resident Lillian “Lil” Bledsoe celebrated her 100th birthday on Jan. 15, with friends and family.
Stepchildren Jim, Cindy and Alan and nieces Cheryle and Amy were part of the celebration, along with administrators from Good Samaritan whom Bledsoe said she’s known since moving there in the 1980s.
Bledsoe, still very quickwitted and sharp of mind at her milestone age and whose father and other family members lived well into their 90s, said a healthy outlook has been the key to reaching 100.
“And a vodka and tonic every day,” she said with a gleam in her eye.
Lillian A. Silcox, a decedent of William Penn and the original colonial Quakers, was born on Jan. 15, 1924 in Chester, Pa., a suburb of Philadelphia. After graduating high school she went to work at Sun Ship Building Company, a major employer on the Chester Waterfront, to help build ships used in World War II. During this time, she met first husband Art Robbins, whom she married, and they moved to Torrington, Conn.
She lived in Connecticut for 40 years. After Art passed, she met and married Ray White, and together in retirement they bought a number of RVs and traveled in motorcades, often spending winters in Mexico. During that time Lillian, along with friends, took annual treks on the Appalachian Trail. She eventually completed its entirety from Georgia to Maine over the course of years, and called that her life’s greatest achievement.
“There’s parts of the trail that you can’t hike without the chance of falling, or drowning, or getting hurt,” she said. “I was lucky and blessed to have the help of good friends and people we met to finish it.”
Bledsoe said the most picturesque parts of the trail are in Virginia, but the most treacherous parts are in Maine, where fording at least one river is part of the experience, if you want to finish it.
“The water was up to my chin at one point, my backpack was floating along next to me. Thank God I saved my boots by putting it on top of it,” she remembered vividly. “I had to stand on my friend Dorothy Green’s shoulders at one point.”
Through connections with Ray’s work, she noted getting to meet presidents Dwight Eisenhower, Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan—but those were mentioned after talking about the trail!
Lillian and Ray sold the Connecticut home and move to Good Samaritan Village in the 1980s. After Ray passed, Lillian met Claude Bledsoe at Good Samaritan, and the pair became active in the community’s shuffleboard league, a library volunteer and treasurer of the Sunshine Auxiliary, a post she held until she was 97.
Lillian continues to play bridge and poker a few days a week with friends at Good Sam, where she still lives in her mobile home with the help of caregivers and friends.
“We had trouble with the storms, but I love it here,” she said. “I have a neighbor who told me, ‘Whenever I go by and see you, you always smile and say hello.”
