Two Hardy County WV Natives Get Ready to Celebrate their 100 Birthdays
When I learned that two ladies from Hardy County, West Virginia with connections to my family were celebrating 100 years in 2026, I decided to learn more about their lives. Both are now living in Virginia and I visit them often! Both gave me permission to interview them and write about them!
Nina Lee Keener Delawder was born on May 27, 1926, at home in Baker, West Virginia.
Her grandparents, Noah and Sallie Funkhouser, raised her. Nina went to Baker Elementary School until 8 grade; she then went to Moorefield, West Virginia, to live with her mother and attended Moorefield High School.
Nina married Orville Delawder in August 1944, in the Court House in Moorefield WV. She says she lied about her age in order to get married, stating that she was 18 when in fact, she had just turned 17. She and Orville lived in the Upper Cove, where she attended the Cove Chapel Mennonite Church (the church was later moved to the Brethren Mennonite Heritage Center in Harrisonburg.) Nina taught Sunday School at Cove Chapel. When Cove Chapel closed, Nina attended Garretts Chapel EUB Church (later United Methodist.) Nina and Orville raised four sons: Rodney, Gary, Dean, and Larry.
The Delawder family later moved to a house on Route 259 across from the new Mathias Mennonite Church. Nina lived there alone after Orville died from cancer in 1998. She says my mom had been there to visit right before he passed away. Her son Dean died young, also from cancer. Nina has five living grandchildren; the sixth, Dean’s son Jason died in a car accident. She now resides at Shenandoah Place in New Market.
Nina was a prolific reader; my late mom took her to the Bergton Library each week to get books for many years. Nina talks about lighting a kerosene lamp by her bed and reading every night as she grew up without electricity. She loved all types of books but said she has read every Amish book ever written! Unfortunately, Nina has been blind about 5 years from macular degeneration. (I recall taking my mom and Nina to the eye doctor, as well as to get groceries every week once I retired, and to their favorite Burger King!)
Nina also enjoyed doing crafts and beadwork, especially for Christmas. Her thoughts on turning 100 were that she would rather be in good health, especially with her eyesight, but that she is young at heart! Nina loves flowers, and a beautiful photo of flowers hangs just above her bed in the photo that I took with her permission!
Madeline Esther Dispanet Cullers was born on August 27, 1926, at her house on Cullers Run. Her father Russell Dispanet and my grandmother Sadie Dispanet Stultz were brother and sister; she and my father Owen Guy Stultz were first cousins.
She walked to the Cullers Run School which was about a mile from her house up to 8 grade. She then went to the Mathias School where she remembers Lester See and Sadie Halterman being teachers. Both were also my teachers! She says my bus driver Carter Jenkins also drove her bus!
Madeline graduated from high school at age 16 and attended Madison College where she got her degree. She rode to Harrisonburg “with other girls, including Velda Keller.” After graduation, she taught the lower grades (first to fourth) at Cullers Run School. The new book Brocks Gap Schools by Pat Turner Ritchie records that Madeline taught for a term at the Crider School on top of Shenandoah Mountain.
Later, Madeline was a teacher at Mathias Twelve Year School. She taught Language, English, and was a part-time librarian. She recalls liking teaching, being with the “pupils”, and working with other teachers. She was my English teacher in high school. For most of the time, Mathias Twelve Year School had only classroom libraries.
Madeline married Victor Cullers of Mathias and had one son, Kent Allen Cullers. Victor (“Vic”) was a farmer and also drove a school bus. She has 3 grandchildren and 2 great grandchildren. After retirement she says she helped with the farm, and as a former librarian, she loved to read.
Madeline went to Brookdale in Harrisonburg for rehab and now lives there full-time. Although she misses the farm, her granddaughter Brandi Breeden brings the farm to her by hanging many pictures of cows on her wall. Brandi makes sure to have beautiful seasonal decorations in all seasons. Brandi says, “when I think of my grandmother, the first word that comes to mind is ‘strength’. She was the first in the family to go to college. She is sweet, easy going, and a good example for those around her. She always says that as the oldest girl, she needs to behave! At 99 years old, she still has a sense of humor which I love.”
Madeline says she is looking forward to a 100 birthday party she noted that her family is planning and is excited to be celebrating one hundred years in August!
“Cheers to 100 years” to Nina and Madeline!
