Doris Button has two rules: Eat everything that doesn’t eat you first, and keep moving.
Simple enough, and those guidelines have served her well –Doris will celebrate her 100th birthday on Valentine’s Day, Feb. 14. Now a Marcellus resident, Doris was born and raised in Perryville, which she describes as seven miles from Cazenovia, seven miles from Canastota, and five miles from Chittenango. Six other homes on her street belonged to family members, and she remembered each Christmas the family would gather at a different house to celebrate. She spent as much time as possible outdoors as a child. “In the winter I was just inside long enough to warm my hands and feet,” Doris laughed. Today, she still prefers to hang her clothes outside to dry — the scent of fresh air is “perfume enough.” After high school, she met and married her husband, the late Raymond Button.
They lived for 60 years in the city of Syracuse, much of the time in Strathmore where their children Raymond (Bill) and Trudy were raised. Growing up and raising children during the Great Depression, Doris learned to appreciate the simple things. She remembers learning that a man in Marcellus was making butter — a hot commodity that most did not have access to — and traveling across the county for it. “We thought we had a pound of gold,” Doris said.
She and Ray did not travel much, choosing instead to enjoy activities close to home. Each summer, the family would head to the New York State Fair, visiting nearly every day. “It was $1 to get in,” she remembered. The family would head to the fairgrounds each morning, have breakfast at their favorite spot and lunch at the car in the parking lot. The kids preferred the animals to the carnival rides. Ray passed away after 60 years of marriage.
“I was knocked for a loop,” Doris said. Six decades of wedded bliss taught her “to give and take.” Unless it came to Avon.
Doris sold Avon for more than 35 years, racking up around 300 clients during a time when most wives did not work outside the home. “I told Ray, I want to do something besides housework,” she said. And that’s just what she did. “I was a go-getter,” she added.
Last spring, Doris’ daughter Trudy took her to visit her childhood home. A new family had moved in and begun renovating, and welcomed the former resident in with open arms. She toured her old Perryville home, reminiscing and sharing stories of the house with the new owners. “I told them, I was born in this house,” Doris remembered.
Today, Doris lives in Marcellus, close to Trudy, (“She’s so good to me,” Doris says). She likes living on her own and watching Syracuse basketball. If you see Doris on Feb. 14, wish her a happy 100th birthday, and many more to come!