It’s difficult for Mary Nolan to reflect back on much in her childhood, other than babysitting after school and playing hopscotch in front of her Brentwood, Md., home, but when you’ve managed to live to be 100 years old, no one can really fault you for not remembering.
Coastal Point RYAN SAXTON
Mary Nolan will celebrate her 100th birthday Tuesday, April 8. Her abundance of friends and love from son, James, pictured at right, keep her going, day in and day out.
In her century of living, Nolan has proven that there’s no rest for the weary, and you can never surround yourself with too many friends in your life, no matter how you try.
With a spunky mentality and a sensible attitude, Nolan’s welcoming smile and attentive blue eyes would suggest that she’s capable of living another 100 years. She has outlived much of her family, including her late husband and numerous siblings. She was only 11 when her mother passed at age 30. For most of her life, she and her two younger brothers were raised by their grandmother.
After attending Notre Dame Academy and moving to the north side of Washington, D.C., Nolan began her work with the Internal Revenue Service, a job she spent working at for 28 years, an occupation she would retire from. Prior to that, she worked for IBM, as well.
Four years ago, she relocated to Sussex County, to be closer to her son, James Nolan. She has made acquaintances throughout her whole life, and continues to do so to this day.
St. Anne’s Catholic Church in Bethany Beach has become a welcoming retreat for her to continue the faith she knew growing up, and to meet countless other smiling faces to help her along her way.
“I’ve made an ocean of friends,” she said. “I’ve encountered so many people, I don’t even know some of their names when they send me cards or call me up.”
She did receive a particularly special card in advance of the occasion of her 100th birthday, courtesy of President George W. Bush and First Lady Laura Bush, too.
To speak to her, though, one would not suspect that Nolan has almost reached the 100-year mark. She has even been known to drive herself, without the aid of glasses – an accomplishment for a woman of her maturity.
Tuesday, April 8, will mark her centennial festivity, complete with a birthday celebration from countless friends at the Golden Bull back in Gaithersburg, Md., on April 19.
“It will be nice to see all the people I’ve known,” she said. “I’m sure there will be some people there I don’t know and others who I will likely not see again.”
But knowing they’ve been there for her has brought her more joy and comfort than she could have ever asked for.
Though she enjoys traveling, she hasn’t seen as much as she would have liked to over her lifetime. But she has no regrets about how she’s lived.
“Everyone has those things in life they wish they’d done, but it’s nothing to cry over,” she said this week.
In fact, she’s still living it up. In addition to traveling to Alaska and visiting Ireland some 30 years ago, she has a scheduled trip this fall to Bermuda.
Making new friends has become one of her hobbies — that is, when she’s not occupied helping her son.
“I run a maid service for him. I make his bed, do the dishes and fix his meals,” she noted.
Many of the friends she has known over the years have long since passed. But even that fact hasn’t drained the good humor from the near-centenarian.
“I can’t afford to live too much longer,” she joked with a grin, “or else I won’t have any friends left.”