On Halloween, Army veteran Pauline Simpson didn’t use a wand to cast any spells, but she did reach the century mark.
A resident of Phelan, Simpson wore a witch’s hat as she celebrated her 100th birthday earlier this month with family and friends at her granddaughter Jennifer Gerrie’s house in Victorville.
Born on Halloween in Clyde, Kansas, Simpson was 26 years old when she and her friend decided to enlist in the Army.
“They were working at a grocery store and were tired of that so they went one Saturday and signed up,” Gerrie told the Daily Press. “When she went home, she told her brother and family and they were so mad at her.”
Gerrie said while in the Army, her grandmother’s name was Pauline Motley Cooper because she was married to Darryl Cooper.
“She enlisted into the Army and served in the 1st Company 11, 3rd regimen WAC. She was a PFC and did training at the training center in Ft. Des Moines, Iowa,” Simpson’s granddaughter said.
Simpson’s desire to be stationed overseas was thwarted by Army officials who stationed Simpson at the Pentagon in Washington D.C. She worked in the IBM department doing machine work, where she saw Gen. Dwight David “Ike” Eisenhower numerous times in the cafeteria.
After a short time, Simpson left the Army to be with her dying mother. The veteran was awarded the World War II Victory Medal.
Simpson has been married and divorced three times. She has a daughter who she lives with and a son who recently died. She also has several grandchildren, several great-grandchildren and two great-great-grandsons.
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