ROCKLAND, Maine — Friends and fellow veterans stopped by Edith Dondis’ home in Rockland this weekend to celebrate her century. Dondis marked her 100th birthday Saturday, greeting well-wishers on the porch of the house on Tillson Avenue where she grew up and has lived almost her whole life.
Dondis was joined by Joy Asuncion, a retired Navy Senior Chief, to help celebrate. Friends had put out a call for cards, and more than 100 cards arrived to wish her well.
She received a Quilt of Valor on her birthday.
Dondis went into the Navy during World War II, serving in the women’s volunteer unit called the Waves. She worked in the offices at the base headquarters in New York City. Her four brothers all were in the service, too and all came home safely after the war.
She has seen lots of changes to her home town of Rockland over the years. Her neat, white house is now the last home on Tillson Avenue, where everything else has become commercial buildings and the Coast Guard base.
