90thbday2Dozens of family members came to Donnelsville Sunday afternoon to celebrate the 90th birthday of local resident Marian Phares.

The Donnelsville cabin was crammed with generations and generations of Phares’ family, all coming to wish her a happy birthday, as well as do some catching up and reminiscing about the old times.

“I’m just elated that so many people are here, I know everyone is so busy and they have so many other things going on,” Phares said, eyeing a steady stream of well-wishers who flooded in and out the door continuously.

“I didn’t have anything to do with this—they wouldn’t let me do a thing!” she said of her family, who put on Sunday’s bash.

Phares is not your typical 90 year-old. She still tackles life independently, doing most things all by herself, except for the “six hours of help I bring in every week,” she said.

“She’s a character,” said her son, David Phares, who, along with his wife Kim, planned his mother’s 90th birthday party.

Phares was born in Springfield on Christmas Eve, 1925. She attended St. Mary’s and Catholic Central Schools. She married Bob Phares in 1955, and had five children, including two step-children. She discussed the changes in the world that have occurred since she was a kid, saying that everything has changed so much.

“We didn’t have that much growing up,” she said. “Our parents were poor, you know, like a lot of people back then.”

When asked what she attributed to her good health, Phares said she has taken good care of herself, noting that she’s “always been pretty healthy.” She said that she had her first fall in January of 2005, and that her health has been somewhat downhill since, saying that she had just been released from the hospital a few days before the party, but noting that she was glad she got out just in time.

Having been a member of Eastern Star since the mid-1970s, Phares said she regretfully had to stop attending their meetings, saying she now avoids places with stairs and no elevators.

During the party, she stopped to look around the full room and gestured to a long table occupied by more than a dozen people. Next to her at the table sat her daughter, Karen, grandson Zach and his daughter, her great granddaughter Danielle, rounding out four generations of her family.

“I think that whole table right there is all of my relation,” she said proudly.

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