SUNDERLAND — There’s family, familiar food and friendly folks, so why leave your hometown?
Helen Rodak celebrated her 100th birthday Saturday, surrounded by family and friends at Dimo’s Restaurant on North Main Street.
The Sunderland native has lived in town her entire life, seeing it grow in population and liveliness since 1919.
“It’s been a very nice town,” she said. “The people are friendly and they treat you like family.”
As a centenarian, Helen Rodak doesn’t wear glasses, reads three newspapers a day — to make sure she is caught up in local, national and international politics — and is inspiringly independent.
Her son, Ron Rodak, owns Dimo’s, where his mother lives next door. He said he is constantly impressed by his mother’s vigor for her age — she bathes alone and “remembers everything.”
“I ask her about all different things about the town. She’ll tell me about a flood we had years ago,” Ron Rodak said.
Helen Rodak graduated from high school in 1938, and has always attended the same Deerfield church, the Holy Name of Jesus Parish, of which her mother was a founding member.
She remembers a more rural Sunderland from her childhood, one where her family owned ducks, cows and pigs. One thing that never changed, she said, was that Sunderland has “the best water around.”
According to Ron Rodak, his mother is the second-oldest resident in town, following her close friend since childhood, Jessie Kudukey.
Linda Casse, Helen Rodak’s daughter, said family came from New York and Vermont to visit for the birthday celebration. Her mother was pleased to see the company — and to share her glorious white birthday cake.
“For her, it’s all about comfort,” Casse said. “And this is her home.”
Reach David McLellan at dmclellan@recorder.com or 413-772-0261, ext. 268.