By SUZANNAH COUCH and ABIGAIL YOUMANS, the Brown County Democrat
During the COVID-19 pandemic, birthday parties as we know them have been replaced with virtual ones, or curbside visits with loved ones celebrating from a distance.
On Saturday and Monday, two parade-like processions celebrated the 98th birthdays of two local women.
Sarah Louise Kritzer turned 98 on May 9. About 35 cars drove by her Nashville home to wish her well.
Friends and family held balloons and signs that read, “Happy Birthday!” and “We love you!”
Kritzer yelled a very heartfelt “Thank you!” to everyone.
Her son, Steve Crabtree, also had grandchildren and great-grandchildren on FaceTime, so they were able to join in the festivities from across the country.
Kritzer knows all the ins-and-outs of Nashville, said her son-in-law, Gary Oliver. She’s lived in Brown County her whole life.
“I can’t believe it when you say 98,” Kritzer said.
On Monday morning, Doris Embry stepped out of the Common Grounds Coffee Bar and Tea Shop to balloons and streamers and took a seat upon her “throne” for the day. “The queen of Nashville,” declared her friend, Fred Sisson.
Two lines of cars on Jefferson Street were waiting to pass her. Some brought signs; others wore birthday hats as they waved and gave Embry cards and gifts.
“I’m overwhelmed! What a surprise. … I’m overwhelmed, but I got a good seat,” Doris said.
Doris Kinnaird made cupcakes that were handed out to every driver. Another person paid for coffee to be handed out to each car, too.
Many promised to come see her once it’s safe to do so.
“Are you doing OK?” one passerby asks.
“I made it to today!” Doris replies.
One of her neighbors pulls up. “You told me a couple of years to slow down. That was the best advice I ever received,” he tells her.
“I try to be half-fast,” she responds.
The Common Grounds is one of Embry’s favorite spots in town, and she was happy to see a traffic jam outside.
“I was totally surprised. I thought I had everything under control and I find I have nothing under control,” she said of her birthday parade.
“I thought I was 88 a couple of weeks ago,” she said with a laugh.
“I’ve never really been hung up on an age. I never really cared if I was another year old. I just say thank you very much. … I have to make it a good day. That’s my responsibility.”
Fred and Roni Sisson have known Embry for around 50 years. Jeff and Connie Casey moved to Brown County around 10 years ago. The two couples and Embry make up a group who hike up Browning Mountain in southern Brown County every year. They first hiked up when Embry was 80, and even left a time capsule up there.
“The other day, she said, ‘I think I’ve got one more trip up Browning Mountain,’” Fred said.
“Paying attention every day” to your life is Embry’s secret to living a long life, along with “saying, ‘Thank you. I’ve got another day.’ You’ve got to remember to say thank you. We’ve got a lot of surprises in us,” Embry said.
“That’s what the ‘ing’ in living is. You’re ‘inging’ it every day,” she added.
“I’m the luckiest person in the world.”
