Tel Hai Retirement Community recently hosted a celebration birthday party in honor of Isabel Needham, who turned 106!
Isabel was born on December 22, 1909 in the Northwest bedroom of the William Tenbrook Long farmhouse. Isabel was born as the ninth generation from Madame Marie Warenbuer Feree, who was granted land in 1712 from William Penn. That land is now part of Paradise, Pa. If you ride the Strasburg Railroad, you will hear the conductor point out Carpenters graveyard where Madame Ferree is buried.
Isabel’s father was a telegrapher for the Pennsylvania Railroad, and her mother was a homemaker. Isabel attended college at Williams College in Chambersburg, Pa., with a bachelor’s degree in science and minors in English and education. Upon graduation, Isabel secured a teaching position at Valley Township School District. Throughout her long teaching career, Isabel touched many lives and is still recognized by former students, including a Tel Hai staff member.
Isabel met her husband, George Needham, while home from college through a friend in 1931. George was the President of CURAS society, sponsored by the Coatesville YMCA. The CURAS Society was a group of young people who joined together for cultural and religious, and activities. George and Isabel were engaged in 1934 and married in 1935 in Coatesville Presbyterian Church. They shared 56 years of marriage.
Isabel has two daughters Nancy Grace and Virginia Isabel. Isabel moved to Tel Hai Retirement Community in 1993, where she currently resides.
Tel Hai Retirement Community, an accredited nonprofit continuing care retirement community, has provided high quality and compassionate care since 1956. The campus is located at 1200 Tel Hai Circle, Honey Brook, PA., three miles east of Route 10 off Beaver Dam Road. For more information or directions, please visit www.telhai.org.
