On Friday, July 29, 2016, my mother, Dana Guest, celebrated her 100th birthday with friends and neighbors at Mills Park Tower in Oak Park with a festive party they held for her in their residential building. “Fabulous,” my mother described the event with a big smile, looking at familiar faces in the community room filled with balloons and flowers and good wishes for continuing her healthy life for many years to come. I observed my mother’s loving spirit as she welcomed her guests with hugs and kisses and her expressed gratitude toward so many people for embracing her on this milestone birthday.
All my life, I have witnessed my mother’s vivacity, energy, skill, and talent in extending herself to people in and outside our home, making them feel welcomed and loved. Today was the same as always. I consider myself fortunate to still experience her exuberance and joy in making others feel special just as she, in return, felt special today by this unique community of giving individuals.
It was plainly joyful for all of us.
My mother was born on this month and day in 1916 in Melbourne, Australia, the youngest daughter of four girls. Her mother was a native of New Zealand, and her father was born in Des Moines, Iowa. Her parents had the girls learn violin, viola and cello at young ages. Considered child prodigies, they were soon performing on vaudeville stages throughout Australia beginning in the early 1920s as “The Four Little Kellys” and soon became stars on the Tivoli Theatre circuit. She recalls wonderful memories of these days, and has photos of their performances displayed in her apartment. My mother often retells this personal history to me, and I continue my commitment to writing about them in a dedicated notebook about her life.
Since those early beginnings, my mother went on to live a wonderful, adventuresome life with my father, Clifford Guest, as they toured the world while he performed on stages and television programs as a ventriloquist. When my father passed away in 2002, she went back to Australia for a visit, then moved to Oak Park so she could be closer to me.
My mother is happy in her new home in Oak Park as she continues to get to know multiple generations of other family and friends, testimony that new beginnings are possible at any age. How lovely it is for me to continue to share this special time with her.
With love always from your daughter, Robyn.