CHESTERFIELD COUNTY, Va. -- A Chesterfield woman known for being a very active member of the community is celebrating her 100th birthday Wednesday.
Barbara Spence has lived in Chesterfield since 1967 and spent her days as a homemaker, raising three children.
She’s now a great-great-grandmother and has dedicated herself to this community through Branch's Baptist Church.
Over the years, Mrs. Spence has volunteered with seniors, at back-to-school programs, food pantry management, and the church’s women’s missionary union, which works across the United States.
The matriarch of her family is also an avid artist and loves oil painting and stitching.
"I like to use that side of my brain very much," she shared. "I used to sew everything."
While she’s lived at Commonwealth Senior Living since October 2023, Mrs. Spence has become a friend to the residents, including the staff, for whom she is incredibly thankful.
"Keep on doing what you're doing and remember that what you do makes a huge impression on the people who are here," Mrs. Spence said about the Commonwealth staff. "It makes our days better."
The now-centenarian is overwhelmed at the love she’s been shown for her 100th birthday.
"It never really hit me until everybody began to pay attention," Mrs. Spence shared. "You just go from year to year and say, how do I feel at 100? I feel blessed. I'm very blessed that I still can think and think straight. I can see all these people and love every one of you, and it's been wonderful."
As she prepares to enter this 100th year, Mrs. Spence says she doesn't have a secret to longevity but shared how she believes she has made it to this milestone.
"I just lived my day like everybody else with whatever came," she noted. "You lived if it was a good day; okay, that's wonderful. If you had to have a problem, you took care of it until it was done and over with. And just every day, whatever happened, you took care of."
Commonwealth Senior Living will hold a birthday party for Mrs. Spence Wednesday afternoon, and her family will celebrate her special day Saturday, March 29, at Branch's Baptist Church.
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