At two years old, she fell from a second story porch. A year later, she dashed after her brother into a gravel street and was hit by a Model "T" Ford. Dolores Bright is that girl who tempted fate twice. She turned 101 in today.
To celebrate, community members at Las Brisas Senior Living in San Luis Obispo threw Dolores a San Francisco Giant's birthday themed party.
She took on a love for baseball when the New York Giants swapped coasts. Her friends and family say Dolores grew up enjoying baseball with her dad and still loves it today. The San Francisco Giants helped Dolores celebrate her 100th birthday, gifting her a basket of orange and black swag last year.
Bright was born on September 22, 1918 in Houston, Texas, but spent the early years of her life in Forth Worth and San Antonio. She says she remembers playing on the ground of the Alamo.
When the Great Depression hit, her family moved to Tulsa, Oklahoma where she attended high school. That's where she met her sweetheart, Walter Dill Thomas Jr., whom she followed to Colorado and married in the winter of 1939.
Bright ditched the white wedding dress for a blue wool suit with a fox fur collar.
Her husband Dill was working towards his PhD in plant pathology around the time they got married. It's also around the time WWII was making its way across the world. His deployment in the U.S. Navy was deferred for three years, but he was called to serve at the Pacific.
Dolores, now pregnant with their first child, moved back to Tulsa to be with her family. That's where she had her daughter, Sandy, on September 2, 1945, the day Japan formally surrendered.
Dill finished his doctorate and moved the family to Fort Collins where he taught Botany and Forest Pathology. Their son, Arthur was born in 1948 as another September baby.
In 1955, the family packed their things and headed west to Concord, California. Dill took a job as director of the research division at Standard Oil Company.
Dolores was an active stay-at-home mom. As a Girl Scout leader, loyal member in the Methodist Church, ceramics maker and seamstress, she kept herself busy.
Once empty nesters, Dolores and Dill traveled the world through Dill's private consulting business. However, after 44 years of marriage, the couple parted ways.
At age 64, Bright spent so much time volunteering at Danville Congregational Church, members there offered her a job. She retired at 89 after working there for 23 years.
Dolores came to Las Brisas in San Luis Obispo in 2008 to be closer to her daughter Sandy and son-in-law, John. Her grandchildren live in Paso Robles.
Staff members at Las Brisas say Dolores is a hot shot at Bingo, playing twice a week. At 101, she's still a lot of fun.
