BUTLER TWP — Madaline Golec will greet her 100th birthday Thursday the same way she's spent most every one of her days, keeping busy.

Golec may do some yard work if the weather permits, or attend a book club meeting or decide to help out at her church.

Although she voluntarily quit driving last fall, (“I was afraid at my age I couldn't react quick enough,” she said as the reason she turned in her car keys.) this longtime volunteer hasn't completely given up on helping others.

Golec had been a volunteer with Butler Meals on Wheels from its start in 1969.

“I was there during 40 years of volunteering,” she said. “First I was driving and delivering, then I was treasurer and I was the president, too.”

“I was there the day they started it in November 1969, ” said Golec. “That was a very good volunteer place. It still is very good.”

“It was a way of serving and it was needed,” Golec said of the fledgling Meals on Wheels program.

“They needed volunteers. We started out with nothing: two people each for five routes. Now, it's a 105 people taking 35 routes,” she said.

“I drove and delivered, but I was making the food more than I delivered.”

“It wasn't that long ago that she gave it up, four years ago,” said her great-nephew Mike Kaltenbach.

“I just wasn't able to do it anymore,” she said.

Of course, she could have been worn out by the 34 years of volunteering she did at Butler Memorial Hospital.

Golec said, “I just helped out at the hospital, helping the nurses, doing whatever errand needed done.”

She still quilts with the 3T group at her lifelong church, St. Mark's Lutheran Church, 201 W. Jefferson St.

She said she came into the world a century ago at the family home on Keck Road in Summit Township.

“Dr. Sampson came with his black bag. The house is still standing,” said Golec.

The daughter of Warren and Mary Oesterling, she had one sister and two brothers, all deceased.

She married Robert Renfrew in 1944. He died in an accident in 1954. She later married Walter Golec in 1968.

Both of her husbands served in World War II, she said.

Golec said, “World War II left the biggest impression. My first husband was stationed in Hawaii. Walt was with the 490th Bomb Group in Eye, England. He was responsible for getting ammunition to the B-17s.”

“I worked at Armco for five years (1939-1944) then I got married. Then, when my first husband died, I went back to work from 1954 to 1968,” she said.

Her son, David Renfrew of Sewickley said, “My mom was a single parent. My dad died when I was 5. She remarried when I was 19. She worked at Armco. Our house was very organized.”

Even with her 100th birthday fast approaching, Golec still lives in her own home and takes care of most of her own cooking and cleaning.

“I still work with the flowers in the summer, but the hard work, I just don't do it. I don't do any spading anymore,” she said. “I still cook for myself, still do a good bit of the household work, do the washing, but I do have someone to help with the cleaning.”

Asked how she is so sprite approaching the century mark, Golec said, “I just lived and have taken things as they come. I'm a very busy person. I myself, think activity has something to do with it.”

Her son, pointed out a poem written under his mother's picture in the 1935 Butler High School yearbook. It's a credo he said she's lived her life by:

“Maddy's always ready for fun,

But not until her work is done.”

There will be an open house for Madaline Golec's 100th birthday after worship services until 3 p.m. Sunday in the fellowship hall of St. Mark's Lutheran Church.