Centenarian Club - Whitehall Borough

Mrs. Violet Cumpston

Starting off the new year right, the Whitehall Historical Society is beginning their Centenarian Club in 2024. A centenarian is a person who has reached the age of 100 years old. As of 1/1/23, there were over 89,700 centenarians in the United States, so people aged 100 or older comprise 0.027% of the U.S. population. Eligible members for the W.H.S.’s Centenarian Club are any current or past residents of Whitehall Borough.

W.H.S.’s first centenarian is Mrs. Violet Cumpston, Member #001. She currently resides on Carlyn Drive in Whitehall, and she turned 105 years old on her last birthday. Here is Violet’s story:

She was born Violet Edna Newbould on August 29, 1918, in a house in the Carrick area of Pittsburgh, PA. She was the 4th oldest of 11 children to parents Joseph & Bertha (Krein) Newbould, her childhood home was a double duplex on Beck’s Run Road in Carrick. Violet attended Concord Elementary School on Brownsville Road, and she graduated from Carrick High School at the age of sixteen because she skipped a grade and a half. Violet also said that she was born under a bridge down on Contour Ave!

She laughed while sharing her mom’s favorite line, that “she was crying until she got married.” Her mom was Dutch, and her maiden name was Krein.

Violet married Chuck Cumpston in 1940, and they were happily married for 68 years until her husband’s death at age 95 in 2008. Her husband, Chuck, worked for 37 years as a brakeman for M.C.R.R. (Monongahela Connecting Railroad), a subsidiary of J & L Steel Co. in Pittsburgh. For most of their married life, they resided in Bethel Park, PA. They had three children, Judy, Bill, & Kathy. They also have one granddaughter, Devon, and five grandsons, Brian, David, Scott, Nicholas, and Jesse. Vi and Chuck are also blessed with seven great-grandkids.

Violet, along with her ten siblings, had many chores to do while growing up. Some of these included cooking, sewing, cleaning, washing, ironing, tending the family’s big garden, and feeding and gathering eggs from the 100 chickens the Newbould family kept in a coop in their backyard. Violet’s most dreaded chore was when they were cooking chicken for the dinner meal because the kids had to kill the chickens and then dunk them into boiling water, so they could pull the feathers off. As she told the next part of this story, she pinched her nose with her fingers, scrunched up her face, and explained that this was the “stinkiest job” in the world because she remembered how gross it was to pull the guts out of the chickens with her hands. She thought that they had to kill and cook three chickens per meal to feed her big family.

Violet’s favorite chore, sewing, proved to be quite a blessing for her over the years, as she became a skilled seamstress. She built a reputation for her quality sewing and acquired many paying jobs for a variety of sewing projects. She got a job altering clothes for $10.00 a week. She recalled a time when her Singer needed repaired and the cost for that repair was only $0.25. “Oh, those Good Old Days,” she said. She recalled how happy she was when she was given a gift of a brand-new steam iron.

Another story Violet shared was when her younger sister, LaVerne, was helping her do the laundry and wrung her hand through the wringer of their Maytag Washer. She told me her sister cried, but she wasn’t taken to any hospital or doctor for it.

Some of Violet’s “Best Moments” were at Kennywood Park. Their neighbors gave her whole family tickets to take the trolley to the theme park once. Her favorite rides were The Whip and the Auto Ride. Her Mom, “Grammy to 20 grandchildren,” started a tradition for the Newbould family to pack a picnic basket with homemade ham salad sandwiches and meet in the Pavilion by the train every June for the Brentwood/Carrick School Picnic.

Violet shared a memory of helping with the canning of just about every fruit and vegetable that was grown in their yard on Beck’s Run Road. Elderberry jelly was her least favorite. There was a Quince tree among all the apple trees, and jelly was canned from that hybrid fruit, as well. Vi smiled when she recalled how good it was to smell applesauce being cooked outside in an iron pot over a campfire.

The Newbould family home had two street numbers, 67 & 69 Beck’s Run Road with an interior “secret” passageway connecting the two duplexes. The house was built in 1861, and it had six bedrooms and two bathrooms for their family of thirteen. Violet recalled sharing a bedroom with her sister, Alice, who was eight years younger, and her two older sisters shared one room. She smiled when she remembered painting stars on their bedroom ceiling. Another bedroom was shared by a sister and brother who were both bedwetters. Her Mom had insisted that the bedwetters room together to “keep the smell all in one room.”

In December, her parents draped a curtain across an archway to block off the living room while Santa secretly prepared the Christmas tree, which was a surprise for the kids to see on Christmas morning. Her family traditional meal for December 24th was homemade chicken noodle soup because the kids were too excited to eat anything else.

Happily, Violet shared a memory of riding in her dad’s big, old, black 1937 Packard to a Rick’s Dairy Company picnic. Her dad and oldest brother, Joe, both worked as milkmen for Rick’s. She recalled folding down two seats and putting a board across to fit more kids in the car.

Today, Violet’s typical breakfast consists of orange juice, cereal, banana, and, of course, coffee. Her reply to if she had any diet restrictions was “No, I eat what they throw in front of me….and it’s usually pretty good.” She does drink a glass of wine with her dinner. When asked if she was an early riser or if she likes to sleep in, her response was “When I feel like it.” Her favorite movie is Gone with the Wind, and her favorite T.V. show is The Price is Right.

When asked about her favorite actor, Violet proved to be a diehard Pittsburgher with this classic response: “My favorite actor was Bill Burns!”

Her advice to the younger generation is “Do the right thing all the time!”

Violet’s secret to her longevity is “I must have the best genes out of my whole family. I’m not the oldest, but the 4th oldest, but I stand out to be the youngest since I’m the only one left. I can go right now, and I’d be happy.”

It was such a pleasure to interview Violet about her life, not only because she’s a vibrant, sharp-as-a-tack centenarian, but she is also my aunt. Her youngest sister, Alice, was my mom. I hope you enjoyed her life story.

If you know of any Whitehall resident (past or present) who is over 100 years old and would like to share their life story, you can contact me to arrange for an interview for the Whitehall Historical Society’s Centenarian Club membership at:

Whitehallhistory100@gmail.com attn: Sue Veverka