Living to serve

FORT SENECA – Betty Casselman, who turns 100 today, has lived her life serving her country, community and her faith while raising a family in northwest Ohio. Born in Brooklyn, New York, she moved to New Jersey when she was 8 and lived there until she joined the Marine Corps. Casselman served during World War II, joining her cousins and uncle in the Marine Corps. “One Sunday morning – it was Dec. 7, 1941 – that’s when there was the attack on Pearl Harbor. At the time, it was a great affront to the American people,” she said. “It was something that gripped many people’s impulse to do something about it.” After she was accepted, she went to New Bern, North Carolina, where the air arm of the Marine Corps was located. “For the most part, most of my exposure was instructing these pilots who were, as a general thing, much younger than I was,” she said. “It was a very interesting experience. I started out as a private first class right out of boot camp, and then I got the assignment to have to work in the kitchen.” In that first assignment in the kitchen, she recalled serving scrambled eggs from a copper bowl. “Scrambled eggs in a copper bowl would usually turn green,” she said. “However, they were tasty.” During some of her time in the Marines, she was a drill sergeant. She said because she was a little older, the men did not give her trouble and listened to her during drills. Casselman recalled that the men were to obey her commands … regardless of where it took them. “When they were supposed to turn left or right, you had to give them the correct signal. One was ‘gee,’ the other was ‘haw,’ and inevitably (one day) I gave them the wrong signal and they ended up in the ditch,” she said. No one was hurt, she said. Casselman eventually became a teacher at the base. “I instructed pilots in the recognition of planes and ships so they would be able to tell the difference between ours, the British and the enemy – which was Italy, Russia, Germany, Japan,” she said. She said all young ensigns had to take the class, that involved learning to recognize the silhouettes of aircraft and ships. After a while, Casselman said, the young men would fall asleep listening to her lessons. “It was a compulsory course because it was something to save their own skin and be a protector of our country,” she said. Casselman spent two and a half years in the Marines. While she wanted to go to more exotic places, she said she was happy with the work she did. “That’s where they needed me, so that’s where I was,” she said. “All in all, I must say I think I benefited as much as anything from that experience.” She said that, although it was the first time she had been away from home, her mother and father did not object to her joining the Marine Corps. After her discharge in 1945, she returned to her New Jersey home. Her future husband, Francis, was discharged from the Army around the same time. She lived in the same town as his cousins and the two met. They were married about a year after they were discharged, she said. Her husband had grown up on a farm just outside of Fort Seneca, where Casselman still lives. After they were married, she and her family moved to the farm to help Francis’ parents. Casselman said she never had been on a farm and had to learn what to do. Eventually, they raised chickens while her children (Abbott, Susan and Nancy) raised sheep and steers. Casselman said Francis, who died in 1998, would love the celebration around her birthday. “There are many days – especially now, with everything going on with my birthday – that I wish he were here. He would enjoy it,” she said. Casselman finished a teaching degree at Heidelberg College and became the first full-time kindergarten teacher in the Old Fort community. “Every child in the community came to school to me; there was no alternative,” she said. “There was no other kindergarten teacher.” After 12 years as a kindergarten teacher, she moved to first grade and retired in 1980. Following her retirement, Casselman volunteered in the elementary school’s library, at the hospital and delivering meals. “I’m a great believer in volunteering your time,” she said. “I think it’s the essence of good retirement.” She also stays active at her church. “I find that very important in my life to have as an essential guide to the way I feel, the way I worship, the way I treat other people,” she said. She has kept her mind sharp through working crossword puzzles, playing bridge and watching tennis matches. Casselman, her children, four grandchildren, six great-grandchildren, extended family and friends from across the country are to celebrate her birthday and a family reunion this weekend. Casselman urged people to be themselves and stay positive. “It just does not pay to try to be anybody else,” she said. “Always try to see the best in people.”