It is a rare day, to say the least, when someone celebrates a 109th birthday, so when Walpole’s Alice Fischer did so last Tuesday, the event drew a crowd.
About 40 people attended her party at Kindred Transitional Care and Rehabilitation in Walpole, more commonly known as Harrington House, where she lives. The crowd included a large youthful component, about 15 student volunteers from Home Instead Senior Care’s “Be a Santa to a Senior” program.
The students, dressed like elves for the occasion, presented her with a special something to help her on the road to further longevity: a sweatsuit.
Fischer was born in Manchester, N.H., on Dec. 23, 1905, and grew up watching silent films and dancing the foxtrot. She lived her early years in Fall River and, after she married, on a farm in Westford with her husband and son. She survived them both, and a grandson as well, and now stays in touch with two great-grandchildren, both in their 30s. She has spent the last two decades in Walpole, where she had worked as a bookkeeper at the town’s Betro Pharmacy until she was in her 80s.
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Fischer is one of the oldest people in the state, but she is not the eldest; that title belongs to Cheshire’s Bernice Madigan, who turned 115 in July.
Laurie Blake, community service representative for Home Instead Senior Care, said that after the party, Fischer told her: “I think God forgot me. But I’m having a great time.”
Emily Sweeney can be reached at esweeney@globe.com. Follow her on Twitter @emilysweeney.