A Centennial Celebration

It’s not every day that you get to celebrate someone’s birthday who is turning one hundred years old, but this fall at Applewood, we got to do just that. Dot Gavin, who is also the longest tenured resident at Applewood, had a two day birthday celebration fit for a celebrity, complete with some surprises from the University of Massachusetts.

To start the celebration, we welcomed the UMass Minutemen band, Sam the Minuteman, the UMass police department and K-9 Alec, and various department leaders from several schools within UMass. There was even an appearance by the National Championship trophy that was won by the Men’s hockey team last season. Music, cupcakes made by the UMass culinary team, and custom gifts from the university made this a start of a wonderful birthday celebration.

The celebration continued the next day, with visits from our local representatives from the State Senate and House of Representatives. Dot Gavin was to be given the Golden Cane award, a distinction that is given to the oldest resident of the town. Each town in Massachusetts used to have a golden cane to give out, but many of them have gone missing over the years. Amherst still holds onto theirs, and the cane was now in Dot’s possession. Since the golden cane needs to be returned to the town in a few weeks, Dot was also given a golden cane from The Loomis Communities, and this cane is able to remain in her possession forever.

The happiest of Birthday’s, Dot! Here’s to many more to come.