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Ellen Trenary turns 100 on May 12.
photo for Tropical Breeze courtesy of Lori Deal
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by Lori C. Deal
Special to Tropical Breeze
Ellen Trenary will turn 100 years old on Monday, May 12. She was born Ellen Henrietta Grimley to Irene May Wilkerson and John H. Grimley in Forestville, MD on May 12, 1908. That was the year when the first Mother’s Day was observed, the first passenger flight in an airplane took place and wireless radio broadcasting was patented. She is the fifth of 12 children, seven girls and five boys, and grew up in a small 3-bedroom house, one for the girls, one for the boys and one for her parents. John Grimley worked at Carrey’s Ice Cream plant in Washington, DC.
“He would walk into Washington, DC then take a streetcar to the plant everyday,” said Ellen. She attended school at Bradbury Heights through the tenth grade.
Growing up in Forestville was hard for Ellen. “We rarely had enough money and I was always at home,” said Ellen. Occasionally her brother Albert “Buck” would take her and their sisters and brothers to Washington, DC for a movie. Mostly they stayed at home playing tag, jump rope or mumbly-peg. “Life back then was hard, I don’t like to think of those times,” said Ellen.
She left home in 1924 at age 16 and was married later that year to Frank Pounsberry. Her brother Buck introduced them. They lived in Pine Grove, MD not far from Forestville. Frank worked at a meat packing plant and Ellen worked five years as a waitress in Pat’s Restaurant. They had three children, Frank, born Aug. 14, 1926, Doris, born Sept. 13, 1931 and Bernard, born Feb. 2, 1938.
In 1942 she started her 30-year career as a waitress at the Dixie Pig Barbeque, in Coral Hills, MD.
Her husband, four brothers and son Frankie all served in the armed forces during World War II. All of them came back. Frankie returned to the military as a radio operator in the Navy. He was sent to a bombing range in Puerto Rico. On April 4, 1946, a pilot mistook the control tower he was in for a target and blew it up. Frank Henry Pounsberry was killed at age 19.
“They bombed the wrong tower,” she said. “That was a heartbreaker.”
Ellen became one of 400,000 women who lost a child in the war. Like many of them, she joined the Gold Star Mothers, a sisterhood of women who lost sons and daughters in military service. She has outlived most of them. She is also a 50-year member of the OES, Order of the Eastern Star, a fraternal organization whose stated purpose includes: Charitable, Educational, Fraternal, and Scientific.
After 23 years of marriage, Ellen and Frank Pounsberry divorced in 1947. Ellen met her second husband, James Trenary, while working at the Dixie Pig Barbeque Restaurant. They married on June 28, 1948. After six years of marriage, Jimmy died in September 1954. Ellen eventually moved in with her daughter Doris and her four children in Clinton, MD. She continued to work at the Dixie Pig and helped care for her grandchildren while Doris was working for the CIA.
In 1972, Ellen retired from waitressing at the Dixie Pig and moved to Florida with her daughter Doris, her four grandchildren, and son-in-law Lester Davis.
She said she has enjoyed her retirement years making Safety Harbor her home. She has been involved in the local VFW Post 10093 Ladies Auxiliary, where she looked forward to seeing her friends at the weekly Friday night bingo games. Her son-in-law Davis is a past commander of the post, which is honoring her as a Gold Star Mother on Mothers’ Day, Sunday, May 11.
In October 2004 she fell and broke her hip. After surgery and rehabilitation she was walking again in no time. After her daughter Doris’ death in November 2004 she entered the Phillippe Ridge assisted living facility in Safety Harbor, where she currently resides. She loves reading and playing puzzle games and going out to eat her favorite meal, “chickin & dumplins” at Cracker Barrel.
Asked why she has made it to be 100 years old, she said, “I don’t have any secret as to why I’ve lived so long. I don’t smoke or drink… Well, maybe just a couple drinks on my birthday, maybe that’s why,” she said smiling. Ellen has 10 grandchildren, 24 great-grandchildren and six great-great grandchildren at last count.
Lori Deal is the wife of Dave Deal, grandson of Ellen Trenary. She invites anyone who would like to send her grandmother a birthday wish to send it in her care, 1912 Bayshore Court, Safety Harbor, FL 34695 or by email to:
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