Autumn Glen resident Georgia Best marks 100 years

With a cake big enough to serve the lunch crowd at Autumn Glen Assisted Living in Greencastle, resident Georgia Best celebrates her 100th birthday. Born in Greencastle on April 22, 1923, Best is the oldest resident at Autumn Glen.

Banner Graphic/ERIC BERNSEE

Georgia Johnson Best, the oldest resident at Autumn Glen Assisted Living in Greencastle, turned 100 years on Saturday, April 22.

The Greencastle-born Best, who graduated from Greencastle High School in 1941 says, “I wonder sometimes if anyone I went to school with is still alive. I did go to my 50th reunion.”

Best usually enjoys meals with fellow Autumn Glen residents brother Ralph, 92, and sister Lucille Cox, 89, but Cox is confined to her room after foot surgery so only Ralph is around to see the 100th birthday activities that included a large cake and a layered flower photo box of memories she got to uncover.

Daughter Shirley Warren and two stepdaughters complete the family although “all the kids and grandkids live in Indianapolis.” Stepdaughter Debbie Underwood is the closest and she takes Best out when she shops quite a bit. “I don’t go all the time,” she qualifies.

Best actually gets around just fine, even though she parks a walker near by. It’s just for stability, she asserts.

“I don’t use it very much,” she continued. “I like it that way.”

Autumn Glen agrees.

“She’s a trouper,” activities director Milea Suthard said. “She keeps everyone in line. She’s the oldest.”

Best has had various jobs over the years before retiring in 1971 -- a mere 52 years ago, but who’s counting? -- to farm with husband John Best, who passed away six years ago.

“Everybody in town knew him,” she said. “He worked for Duke Energy and (its predecessor) Public Service Indiana.”

Georgia was well known too for working at several positions around town, including Public Service at its office uptown, J.C. Penney’s, Montgomery Ward and others, including a stint as a switchboard operator.

“I’ve done a lot of different things,” she said. “I worked at the Coke plant. They used to have a creamery here in town and worked at it, too.”

It’’s been a full life, Best agrees, noting that she mostly watches TV now and that the farthest she ever ventured from Greencastle has been to Jackson Hole, Wyo., a long time ago.

“I don’t plan to go back,” she said with a smile.