According to Margaret Gertrude Sindorf's birth certificate, she was born on August 31, 1906 and was named "Gertrude Margaret Sindorf." It appears she switched her first and middle name around growing up. Her date of birth in her obituary was listed as September 1, 1906 and in one other news article. All other paperwork that I have seen for her indicates her birthday was the August 31, 1906 date, so the news papers seem to be in error.

Birthday bash thrown for Derry Centenarian By Jeff Himler Staff writer pittsburghlive.com Friday, September 8, 2006

Don and Sara Seigh had a surprise of the best kind in store for their good friend, Margaret Bothwell, last Saturday. The New Florence area couple, who routinely drive the older Bothwell to church and medical appointments, coaxed her out of her Blairsville home with the promise of dinner at a Johnstown restaurant. Instead, they made a stop at the Robinson Community Center, where about 100 relatives and friends were waiting to wish Bothwell a happy 100th birthday. "I'll never forget this," said the clearly tickled and overwhelmed centenarian, who enjoyed a piece of white birthday cake while being serenaded by members of the Gospel Rays and hearing testimonials from current and former pastors of her congregation at the Community Bible Church in West Bolivar. After singing "Whispering Hope," one of the lady of honor's favorite gospel numbers, former Community Bible pastor Rex Lichtenfels noted it was Bothwell who originally surprised her friends at the church, when they discovered her impending 100-year milestone. "Most people didn't know she was becoming that old," Lichtenfels said. "I thought she was going to be 90." A former registered nurse, Margaret Bothwell was born on Sept. 1, 1906, the third of six siblings raised on Derry's Summit Street by the former Sarah Matilda Sylvester Sindorf and William Sindorf, a boiler inspector at the town's Pennsylvania Railroad yard. Though she walks with the assistance of a cane, in defiance of her advanced age, Bothwell maintains her independence in her home, insisting on washing the dishes herself after friends stop in for a bite. Lichtenfels noted, "She has such a great wit to her and she's so happy all the time. Her spirit lifts up other people's spirits." After Bothwell had undergone cataract surgery, Don Seigh recalled, an attendant took her arm to gently help her out to the car: "She said to him, 'Can't you walk any faster?' " When, inevitably, she is asked to what she credits her longevity, Bothwell readily responds, "I think it's clean living and the prayers of all my friends." Strong in her faith, Bothwell regularly reads the Bible with the help of a magnifying device. She admits, when she was younger, she also liked to read romance novels. At her birthday celebration, Bothwell received several small gifts, including a novelty ring that sparkled with a rainbow of lights. But when her friends asked in advance of her big day what she'd most like for a present, Bothwell replied, "All I want is for everybody to come see me." And she got her wish when an appreciative crowd of well-wishers of all ages turned out for Saturday's celebration in Robinson. Among those returning to Western Pennsylvania for the event were Bothwell's only child, Charles, who resides in North Carolina and works as a postal dispatcher, and her sole surviving sibling, Warren Sindorf, 91, from Florida. Among the numerous nieces and nephews who attended were Joyce Hudson, of Greensburg, and Janice Galloway, of Framingham, Mass. The large turnout came as no surprise to Bob Mundorff, another friend from the West Bolivar congregation. "She's touched a lot of lives in all her years," he noted. Included in that number was one famous First Lady. Charles Bothwell noted his mother once sent a card to Mamie Eisenhower, congratulating her and Ike on their wedding anniversary, once she discovered the President and First Lady had tied the knot on the same date she had exchanged vows with Nathaniel Bothwell: July 1. For years afterwards, the Bothwells received an annual anniversary greeting in return from Mamie. Charles noted the cards weren't simply prepared by a secretary and stamped with an official signature. "They were handwritten in blue ink." Like her father, Margaret's husband worked for the Pennsylvania Railroad. He was a car inspector with the railroad's Blairsville-based Conemaugh Valley Division. Margaret's father never really got to enjoy his retirement. He was killed at age 70, when he returned to work a shift at the rail yard in order to relieve a friend. She recalled, "The steam blew off an engine and knocked him down." He was fatally injured when he fell hard onto the tracks below. According to Warren, a counter-sunk plug in the bottom of the engine had not been threaded properly sufficiently and came loose, releasing the steam. Margaret's husband did enjoy retirement years with her before he passed away, a few months shy of their 50th anniversary. According to relatives, Bothwell in younger days enjoyed such outdoor activities as fishing and water skiing. She still fondly recalls going on outings with family and friends, to boat and water ski at the Yough and Loyalhanna dams. And she displayed her self-sufficient nature as a young woman. Before settling down into domestic life, Margaret completed nurse's training in at the West Penn Hospital School of Nursing in Pittsburgh and then struck out on her own to work in the medical field. She served the sick at medical facilities in New York City and Newark, N.J., including a contagious disease center. She spent three years as a supervisor of nursing and also completed a stint at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center. Though its been many decades since she worked as a practicing nurse, Margaret hasn't forgotten the medical terminology she once used on a daily basis. Today, when she consults with doctors for her own medical needs, there's no need for them to translate their diagnosis into layman's terms. Her younger brother, Warren, was impressed by his sister's ability to go it alone as a young working woman, in an era when most females stayed at home. "She traveled at lot at that time," he said, recalling that she drove hundreds of miles alone, from the east coast to Derry, to spend a holiday at home with her family. Travels during his career in the construction field have not been so uneventful for Warren. A graduate of Penn State and an Army veteran, Warren worked his way up from general laborer and carpenter to foreman, superintendent and finally project manager. He was one of fewer than two dozen occupants left alive after their commercial air flight crashed in 1937, about 35 miles north of Atlanta, Ga. He noted, "I was making a transfer to get to Mobile, Alabama," while in the employ of Blount International, a major contractor now based in Oregon. Warren noted many of the initial survivors of the crash later succumbed to burns they had suffered. Though he lost a leg in the accident, he considers himself lucky to be alive. "Later, when they had a reunion of the survivors, they could only locate six of us," he said. The tragic incident occurred early in the annals of commercial aviation in America. Warren recalled, "There was a bad hailstorm in the area, but our crew decided to fly through it instead of flying around it." He noted the craft was struck by lightning before its engines failed at an altitude of 15,000 feet, causing it to plummet to the ground. On yet another business trip, Warren said, "The hotel where they put me up caught on fire." As a result, he noted, "My brother-in-law jokes that he'll never travel with me." Margaret briefly returned to the working world, helping out in the cafeteria at Blairsville's Third Ward Elementary School. Now, she prefers leaving the food preparations to others. In addition to meals she enjoys at a local fast-food restaurant, she is partial to the onion rings made by Bob Mundorff's wife, Donna. Each fall, she enjoys riding along with the Mundorffs to take in the vivid colors of Western Pennsylvania's foliage. When she was 95 years young, Margaret served as the bridesmaid at the Seighs' wedding, on Aug. 25, 2001. The couple needn't have worried that Bothwell might be hesitant to take on such a role well into her golden years. Don noted, "She said she'd be mad if we asked anybody else to do it."