Unwrinkled and disporting her characteristic million-dollar smile, former Somerset resident Doris Cholmondeley Webster took in her easy-going stride all the fuss made over her having reached her 100th birthday on New Year's Day.

Doris is accustomed to excitement, drama and even tragedy. They are just some of the elements that were brought into focus at the celebration of her big century in St. Louis, Missouri.

She makes her home there, enjoying all the comforts and aura that could possibly flow from the eldest of her three daughters, Vivienne Anderson, the distinguished, globe-trotting wife of the retired president of the Geneva-based World Council of Churches AME Bishop Vinton R. Anderson.

There were about 130 people attending her birthday celebration. They came from all quarters in the US, Bermuda and England. Heading the overseas clan was the only other surviving daughter, Mrs. Madge Daniels of Hamilton Parish, accompanied by her husband Arthur Daniels.

Doris was third in the family of eight born to Henry Irving Douglas and his wife Mary Jane Rebecca, who migrated to Bermuda in the early 1900s to join in modernisation of the Royal Naval Dockyard by Messrs. Walker Works Co. They resided at Heathcote Hill, Sandys

Theirs was a family of achievers, the four sons mechanics in the Dockyard and the girls outstanding educators. They were Gladys Dean (deceased) of Burnt House Hill, Warwick; Beryl Manget of Harrington Sound, Smith's, retired principal of West Pembroke School; Maude Bassett, retired deputy and acting principal of the old Boaz Island School; and Elsie Weir, who made her mark in the school system of Kent, England where she has lived for several decades.

The four brothers are all deceased. Best known among them were Wilmoth Douglas who, like Doris was a leader in the BWQA and BIU, and Henry Douglas, a ruler in the Freemasonry craft of Bermuda.

It was a family tragedy that forced Doris to leave school at age 15 to help support her siblings. Her father was blinded during excavations for installation just west of the old Casemates Prison. When a dynamite charge crew had placed failed to explode, he went to investigate. As he did so, it blew up in his face and damaged the fingers of his left hand. Aged 36, he spent the rest of his life on pension.

Daughter Maude remarked that while Doris did not have opportunity like her sisters to be formally trained in the best of local schools and overseas colleges and universities, she was, however, the most talented of the girls.

She went to work at Cambridge Beaches, becoming skilled in culinary arts and an outstanding cook, writing her own cookbook; and she cultivated an interest in gardening. Simultaneously, she became proficient in needlework as a milliner and upholsterer.

Doris vividly recalls the excitement and rumour engulfing Cambridge Beaches in the mid-1930s when its owner Hugh Gray took his estranged wife on a fishing trip off-shore one night. The boat mysteriously sank. The wife, a strong swimmer, drowned and Hugh who could not swim survived.

When the Second World War broke out Doris, like the rest of many young women, went to work at the US Naval Operating Base. The majority of the young girls worked in the laundry, but she was one of only three employed to make parachutes. She recalls receiving a handshake from President Harry Truman when he visited the base.

Early in life Doris became the wife of Kingsford Cholmondeley, a musician in the big dance bands of the era. The marriage ended in divorce. After the war she supplied the Calypso Shop in Hamilton with her distinctive hand-made bow-ties, Argyle socks and other accessories.

It was while working at the base that Doris' keen interest in current events and public affairs grew. It is more than a coincidence that Dr. E.F. Gordon (Mazumbo) was one of the closest neighbours of the Douglas family.

His first residence upon arrival in Bermuda in 1924 was at Heathcote Hill. And when workers at the base initiated industrial action that resulted in formation of the Bermuda Workers Association (BWA), Doris was in the forefront. She became a founding member, and was one of fewer than half a dozen women who signed the historic petition that Dr. Gordon took to London calling for a Royal Commission. When the BWA spawned the Bermuda Industrial Union, she was again a founding member.

Vivienne Anderson said one of the highlights of the 100th birthday celebration was receipt by air express of a "huge bouquet of red roses from the Bermuda Industrial Union along with suitably autographed books, History of the BIU and CHAMP, the One and Only Alma Hunt, both written by Ira Philip. She has been absorbed in reading both ever since they arrived."

Vivienne also gave me a rundown on guests at the party.

They included, from Bermuda, daughter and son-in-law Madge and Arthur Daniels, granddaughter Doris Williams, grandson Charles Daniels, his wife Rita, and great-grandchildren Christopher, Margaret and Catherine, grandson Robert Daniels, his wife Danielle and great grandson Isaiah, and granddaughter Sharon Daniels Michael, who flew in from England. Also attending from Bermuda were Vivienne's aunt and uncle Gerald and Izola Harvey and her cousin and husband Mae and Osrola Smith.

Two nephews attended from Florida ¿ Barry Bassett, Aunt Maud's son, and Henry D. Douglas and wife Ava.

"We were also pleased to have in our midst, Leonetta Ratteray Blake (Frances Burch's daughter), who was visiting her daughter and family in the St. Louis area," said Vivienne. "Vicki Mills' granddaughter (Gloria's daughter) attended from California. Dr. Betty Allen and family drove in from Chicago, and Pamela Major, foster granddaughter came from Atlanta."

The Anderson family were Vinton and Vivienne, the grandchildren Vinton, Jr. and Rhea, Jeffrey and Edie, Carlton and Sheila from Collierville, Tennessee, and Kenneth. Great grandchildren on the Anderson side were Natina, Carlton, Jr., Jordan, and Christian. Many ministers and other friends from the St. Louis area also were present.

Photos, courtesy of Wiley Price, show a cool Doris Cholmondeley Webster close up (above) on her 100th birthday party on New Year's Day. At left, the former Somerset resident is besieged by some of the 130 family and friends who flocked to her new home in St. Louis, Missouri, for the celebration in her honour. They came from Bermuda, Canada, UK and from all over the U.S. Mrs. Webster, mother of three, is seated in front of her two surviving daughters, their husbands, children and grand children. On the right are Vivienne Anderson and husband Bishop Vinton R. Anderson and their children. Madge Daniels, husband Arthur Daniels and their clan are on the left. The third daughter, Mrs. Gloria Mills, is deceased. The Daniels clan included grands Robert, Doris Williams, Charles and son-in-law Arthur Daniels. On the Anderson side are Carlton, Kenneth and Randolph Anderson as well as Vicki Mills and Sharon Michael, granddaughters.