S moke S ignals
APRIL 15, 2015
5
Davidson graduated Taft High School in 1933
BIRTHDAY continued
from front page
Chaplin’s silent film classic “The
Tramp” was drawing moviegoers
to cinemas. She would be almost
a teenager before the first feature
length talking picture was released.
She still remembers when movies
shown upstairs at what is now the
Grand Ronde store cost 35 cents for
adults and 10 cents for children.
Davidson’s 100th birthday party
will be held from 12:30 to 2:30 p.m.
Sunday, April 19, in the Elders
Activity Center, 48940 Blacktail
Drive. She will join Pearl Lyon
as the second centenarian in the
Tribe, which, according to Mem-
ber Services Department Manager
Penny DeLoe, has never occurred
in the recorded history of the Tribe.
Lyon, who used to play dolls with
Davidson when they were children,
recently celebrated her 103rd birth-
day in February.
Interestingly, both Tribal cente-
narians are named after precious
gems.
Davidson was born to sharpshoot-
er “One Shot” Harry Mercier and
his wife, Pearl (Hudson). She was
born after brother Vernon and be-
fore siblings Vincent and Blanche.
Her memories of her childhood
are a little fuzzy, but granddaugh-
ter Stephanie Wood lovingly coaxes
out a memory of when Opal sat on
If you go
Opal Davidson’s 100th
birthday party
When: 12:30 to 2:30 p.m. Sun-
day, April 19
Where: Elders Activity Center,
48940 Blacktail Drive
More info: Call 503-879-2233
an upside-down apple crate in the
water – probably Agency Creek
– and peeled hazel switches for
her grandmother Hattie Hudson.
During a recent visit to Chachalu,
Opal commented on the display
baskets as being like those Hattie
used to weave.
“I used to help peel the sticks,”
she recalls.
She graduated from Taft High
School in 1933 and attended beauty
school at Chemawa Indian School.
She owned Nelscott’s first beauty
salon, which is featured in a Lin-
coln County history book. Nelscott
was one of the five tiny coastal
towns that merged to become Lin-
coln City in 1964. She later worked
in a beauty salon in McMinnville
where the Sage Restaurant is now
located. During this time, she lived
with David and Bertha LaChance.
She met her husband, Loren Da-
vidson, when he was living at her
aunt Josephine’s boarding house.
They married in 1946 and had five
children – sons, Gene, Harry and
Loren Jr., and daughters, Terri and
April. Opal raised the family in the
blue house across from the Butler
property on the east side of Grand
Ronde Road while Loren worked
in the local saw mills. Today, she
has 13 grandchildren and five
great-grandchildren.
Loren walked on in 1986 after 40
years of marriage.
Opal has lived at the Tribal as-
sisted living facility Cougar Lodge
since July 2008 after residing in a
foster care home in Sheridan. She
is attended by Carmen Parren, who
has been her caretaker for most of
the last 28 years.
Opal is proud to be the eldest
Mercier, descended from Francis
Mercier, her grandfather who im-
migrated to the United States from
Belgium. He lived with her when
Opal was a little girl, her father
being Francis’ youngest son.
Today, Opal spends her mornings
watching Drew Carey in “The Price
Is Right,” her favorite show. When
asked if she likes Carey more than
longtime host Bob Barker, she doesn’t
hesitate to retort, “I like them both.”
She also enjoys watching reruns
of “The Golden Girls” and “I Love
Lucy.”
Her walls are decorated with
pictures of family members, some
recently arrived, like her fifth
great-grandchild, and some long
gone, like her younger brother Vin-
cent Mercier who served in World
War II and was photographed wear-
ing his U.S. Marines dress uniform.
A tube of her favorite snack, sour
cream-flavored Pringles potato
chips, sits atop a dresser.
“She has four Pringles every
morning without fail,” Parren says.
Opal says she is looking forward
to her 100th birthday party and
possibly having her favorite food –
coconut cream pie – which she eats
every Monday during Elders’ meals
at Spirit Mountain Casino. She also
is eagerly anticipating the mail and
receiving a congratulatory letter
from President Barack Obama.
Does she have a secret to living
a century?
Her daughter, Terri Wood, says it
probably is what she didn’t do in her
life that attributed to her longevity.
She never smoked, never drank al-
cohol, never drove a car and never
flew in an airplane, and, for what it’s
worth, beans are her favorite food.
After a series of questions about
the past, such as who is the earliest
president she remembers and what
is the first movie she recalls seeing,
an increasingly fatigued Opal looks
right at the questioner and says,
“It’s been so long ago … I don’t re-
member things. I’m almost a 100,
you know.” n
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