Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

100th birthday celebrated by friends across country

The weather was unseasonably cool.

But a century of memories and friendship warmed the hearts of residents and guests at the Adastra residential home for the elderly Sunday afternoon.

Friends and relatives arrived from as close as the southeast Las Vegas neighborhood where the assisted-living home is located, and from as far as the eastern United States.

They were there to celebrate Mildred Beauvais' 100th birthday.

She was born April 28, 1896, when Grover Cleveland was president.

"This is nice," said Cindy Davis, Beauvais' legal guardian. "Everyone Mildred knows is in this room."

"It's hard to believe, but Mildred was 16 when the Titanic went down in 1912," said Ann Stewart, a friend of the family.

Among the guests were Beauvais' only remaining living sibling, Bob Oliver of Gulfport, Fla., who happened to be born the same year the White Star liner glanced off an iceberg and sank in the North Atlantic.

"I'm 83 now, and believe me, I feel 83," Oliver said.

Mildred Beauvais, the second oldest of five brothers and sisters, was born in Nova Scotia, the daughter of George and Bessie Oliver.

She moved to Las Vegas 40 years ago after the death of her husband, George Beauvais.

"When I was little, the family moved to Beverly, Mass.," said Bob Oliver, who explained that his father and one of his brothers worked at the General Electric plant in the nearby community of Lynn, Mass., for many years.

"We were a close-knit family," Oliver said. "There were no big problems, and my sister Mildred was always the sweetest one. She doesn't have a mean bone in her body."

Apparently, Mildred's geniality has been contagious.

For years, neighbors would visit Mildred and her daughter, Virginia Beauvais, and help with housework or offer a ride to the supermarket.

"Virginia wasn't in good health for years," said a neighbor who asked to remain anonymous. "When she needed something, she would tape a sheet of paper to the inside of her bedroom window. And that's how I knew to stop by."

Davis noted that for years her mother, Alberta Powell, was Mildred's legal guardian.

But Powell and Mildred's daughter, Virginia, died nearly two years ago, and since then Davis has been named legal guardian, but she's really more of an informal family member than anything else.

"That's the way it is over here," said Aysha De Festa, director of Adastra and a former ballet and showroom dancer. "Everyone tries to look out for everyone else."

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