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Community Corner

Whitpain Township Honors 100-Year-Old Resident

Robert Foell, 99, will hit the century mark on March 27th

The Whitpain Board of Supervisors passed a resolution on Tuesday night to formally congratulate long-time resident Robert H. Foell on celebrating his 100th birthday later this month.

Foell, who will reach the century mark on March 27th, married Emily Wilkinson on March 6th, 1937, and together they raised four children, 12 grandchildren and 22 great-grandchildren.

"The Whitpain Township Board of Supervisors expresses its sincere congratulations to Robert H. Foell, who is celebrating the 100th anniversary of his birth," said Joseph Palmer, chairman of the board.  "It's a wonderful story and something we should all aspire to."

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With his wife working as a secretary at Grace Baptist Church in Blue Bell, Foell spent 32 years working in quality-control for Standard Press Steel in Jenkintown.  Upon his retirement, Foell accompanied his wife to work each day at the church, where he continues to serve.

Since his birth, Foell has lived through 18 different presidents, beginning with William Howard Taft who held office from 1909 through 1913.  President Woodrow Wilson was elected in November of 1912 and took office the following March.

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In the year Foell was born, the Republic of China was established, the Titanic sank in the Northern Atlantic, Paramount Pictures was founded, and Merck filed for a patent on MDMA--currently referred to as "ecstasy".

On the day Foell was born, the mayor of Tokyo delivered 3,020 cherry-blossom trees to Washington D.C., as a sign of the friendship between Japan and the United States.

Foell also shares his birth-year with many prominent people, including Jackson Pollock, Karl Malden, Woody Guthrie, Pope John Paul I, and Roberta McCain--mother of current Arizona Senator John McCain.

The Ambler Patch congratulates Foell on a century's worth of life, and well wishes as he heads into the future.

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