{"id":2602,"date":"2014-07-09T10:31:59","date_gmt":"2014-07-09T10:31:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ocfl.flywheelsites.com\/2014\/07\/orange-countys-newest-centenarian-honored-with-proclamation\/"},"modified":"2022-01-12T12:13:25","modified_gmt":"2022-01-12T17:13:25","slug":"orange-countys-newest-centenarian-honored-with-proclamation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsroom.ocfl.net\/2014\/07\/orange-countys-newest-centenarian-honored-with-proclamation\/","title":{"rendered":"Orange County\u2019s Newest Centenarian Honored with Proclamation"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Orange County\u2019s newest centenarian Opal Shields was honored with a proclamation and a special luncheon at the Taft Community Center on her 100<sup>th<\/sup> birthday.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMy grandfather drove to the Taft area in 1912 looking for the richest farmland,\u201d Opal Shields said. \u201cAll my life, I never dreamed my 100<sup>th<\/sup> birthday would happen like this.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Shields&#8217; was born in Hamilton, Indiana on July 8, 1914. Her family relocated to the Taft area of Orange County in 1916 where she still resides. As one of the County\u2019s oldest lifelong residents, Shields was presented a proclamation at the birthday celebration by Orange County Mayor Teresa Jacobs who officially declared Tuesday, July 8, 2014, \u201cOpal Shields Day.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Shields\u2019 service to her community began after graduating from Florida State College for Women (now Florida State University) in 1936 when she began her 34-year teaching career. From 1948 to 1975, she taught grades five and six at Taft Elementary School until she retired.<\/p>\n<p>During World War II, she joined the United States Navy as a member of the WAVES (Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service) initiative where she once assisted famed aviator Charles Lindberg with a weather report. She was later stationed in Washington, D.C. where she decoded Japanese weather reports for the U.S. troops in the Pacific area.<\/p>\n<p>Since her retirement in 1975, Shields has attended the Taft Community Center\u2019s Seniors First Neighborhood Lunch Program and has volunteered to knit hundreds of infant hats, which have been donated to the Winnie Palmer Hospital for Women and Babies.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOrange County honors Opal Shields for her 100 years of service to our community,\u201d Mayor Jacobs said after delivering her proclamation.<\/p>\n<p>Shields\u2019 was a distinguished guest of honor during Mayor Jacobs\u2019 <a href=\"https:\/\/newsroom.ocfl.net\/2014\/06\/mayor-teresa-jacobs-gives-2014-state-of-the-county-address\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">2014 State of the County address in June<\/a>. Shields traveled by SunRail to the event with Commissioner Jennifer Thompson from Orange County\u2019s Sand Lake Road Heart of Pine Castle Station.<\/p>\n<p>In addition to her family and friends, Shields was joined in celebration by several of her former students.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cShe was a no-nonsense teacher,\u201d said Julian Dominy, who was taught by Shields from 1954-56. \u201cShe was very kind but maintained discipline. We need more teachers like her.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Shields\u2019 100<sup>th<\/sup> birthday celebration was sponsored by <a href=\"http:\/\/www.seniorsfirstinc.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Seniors First<\/a>, which enhances the quality of life for Central Florida senior citizens by maintaining their independence and dignity through nutrition, home improvement and support services.<\/p>\n<p>A collection of photos from Opal\u2019s birthday celebration with Mayor Jacobs can be found on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/mayorteresajacobs\/sets\/72157645168572880\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Flickr.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Orange County\u2019s newest centenarian Opal Shields was honored with a proclamation and a special luncheon at the Taft Community Center on her 100th birthday.<br \/>\n\u201cMy grandfather drove to the Taft area in 1912 looking for the richest farmland,\u201d Opal Shields said. \u201cAll my life, I never dreamed my 100th birthday would happen like this.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5453,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[24,29],"class_list":["post-2602","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-community-services","tag-county-news","tag-featured-stories"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Orange County\u2019s Newest Centenarian Honored with Proclamation<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/newsroom.ocfl.net\/2014\/07\/orange-countys-newest-centenarian-honored-with-proclamation\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" 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