June 13, 2017 (Canandaigua, NY) ─      Living a life of purpose is the secret to longevity, according to centenarian Mary Stanton, a resident at Horizons, a DePaul Senior Living Community in Canandaigua.

“You should have a goal, whether it’s teaching or something different…you can’t just lollygag,” she said.

Born in Northeast, Pennsylvania with her three siblings, Mary’s father ran his family’s grocery/hardware store, where Mary sometimes worked, and her mother was a dressmaker. She made all the clothing for Mary and her sister.

“She liked everything just so, so we were very well dressed and had impeccable manners at all times,” she recalls.

After graduating high school, Mary traveled to Buffalo to attend Bryant and Stratton. She lived with and cleaned for a family in exchange for her room and board, and later worked in the offices at a building and lumber supply company. After being laid off, Mary returned to Pennsylvania briefly before landing a job at Widmer Winery in Naples, New York where she met her husband Leo Stanton. Twenty years her senior, Leo was a banker and owned a successful farm in Cohocton.

The couple was married when she was 23. Leo has since passed away. Mary moved to Horizons in 2016 from another retirement community in Canandaigua where she lived for 18 years. She is an avid reader, especially when it comes to anything about the history of Germany and England.

Horizons marked Mary’s milestone with a party with family and friends, some coming from as far away as Indiana to celebrate! She’s not surprised to have lived to the age of 100!

“I don’t give it much thought,” she said. “I just keep going!”

For more information about Horizons, please contact Administrator Kathy Murray-McGhan (585) 396-3390, at kmurray-mcghan@depaul.org or visit us on Facebook.