ROSWELL, Ga. — A Roswell nursing home is celebrating a resident's milestone birthday on Thursday. Born in 1921 in Alexandria, Louisiana, Doris LaFrenier is becoming a centenarian on July 15.
A spokesperson for Historic Roswell Place, a senior living assisted and memory care community, says they're having a fun-filled celebration for LaFrenier to commemorate 100 years of her life.
The facility says the soon-to-be 100-year-old was raised in a family of three sisters and was a local tennis champion in her high school and college days.
LaFrenier worked on a local military base before World War II. That's where she met her first husband, Bill Sapp Jr. The couple later moved to Sapp's hometown of Dalton and had three children, Bill, Scott, and Judy.
After being widowed once in 1967, remarried in 1969, and widowed again in 1972, LaFrenier found love again with her husband Paul LaFrenier and they wed in 1976. The pair were married for 24 years before he died in 2001, according to Historic Roswell.
That's when LaFrenier moved to Marietta to be near her two sons.
Now, the facility says she enjoys visits from her three children, five grandchildren, and five great-grandchildren at Historic Roswell.
A lover of Rock & Roll era music and chocolate cake, LaFrenier finds joy in cooking and entertaining — a skill she took on from her late mother, according to Historic Roswell.
"People still talk about her shrimp gumbo to this day," they said.
Her mother was Creole, speaking French at home and whipping up Creole cuisine.
Family members and facility residents are gathering at 3 p.m. to party alongside LaFrenier for her 100th birthday at Historic Roswell Place.
