By Donna Lou Shaw
Director of Public Relations
CedarWoods Assisted Living
Ella Tuttle was born Oct. 20, 1918 in Ruso, North Dakota, and recently celebrated her 103rd birthday at Cedar Woods Assisted Living in Van Buren Township.
Ella was born in 1918 during the first pandemic. She was second oldest of five children. All the children lived on a farm and survived the Swine Flu.
Now, Ella is comfortably living at CedarWoods Assisted Living, fully vaccinated and enjoying her retirement years.
Ella played on a senior bowling league up into her 70s and she continues to enjoy bowling at CedarWoods weekly. She never misses a social activity and enjoys crafts and the daily news group.
Ella was never a stranger to hard work. She got her first job at age 15 and worked as a maid in Detroit for a “high society” couple in Grosse Pointe. Ella continued her hard-working ethic and worked in small factories her whole life.
She married her first husband Erich Liedkiewicz in June 1941 and they had three children: son Jerry Liedkiewicz and daughters Sandy McGeary and Linda Bell.
Erich Liedkiewicz passed away suddenly in 1954 and Ella found herself as a single mother raising her children alone until she met Thomas Tuttle. In 1960, Ella and Thomas married and raised the three children together.
Ella’s legacy continues. She has eight grandchildren and 11 great-grandchildren. All three of Ella’s children were in attendance to celebrate their mother’s birthday: Sandy McGeary, Linda Bell, Jerry Liedkiewicz and his wife Linda.