Jane Ehemann doesn't want to make a big deal of her 100th birthday today.

"I'm just thankful I'm on my feet and can do what I can do," Ehemann said. "I like to meet interesting people and do something worthwhile."

That's why Ehemann still volunteers at Lancaster Regional Medical Center, as she has for the past 48 years.

It was through the Red Cross that she began volunteering at the hospital, known then as St. Joseph's. She said she used to have more duties than she does now. But it's not age that's slowed her.

"Computers have taken some of it away," Ehemann said in a 1998 interview with the Intelligencer Journal. "We used to take patients to X-ray and clock in all requests for lab and X-ray, which took a lot of time that we don't do now. We also helped to feed patients sometimes. We did a little bit of everything."

Ehemann works at the hospital as a messenger every Wednesday afternoon, delivering and picking up mail at the different departments. It gives her a good walk, roughly a third of a mile.

Once in a while she delivers flowers or lab reports, though not as many as she used to.

"I don't put in as many hours as I used to," Ehemann said. But she plans to continue volunteering "for a year or two. I would miss that" if she had to quit, she said.

She has the longest tenure at the hospital of any employee or volunteer, officials said.

Ehemann said she enjoys seeing her boss from the former Watt & Shand department store in Lancaster, Tom Mekeel, who also volunteers.

Born on Oct. 10, 1908, in Parkesburg, Ehemann was the older of two daughters of George and Jane Finegan. Her sister, Marion, died several years ago.

Her father was a machinist and then chauffeur for Horace Beale in Parkesburg.

As a child, Ehemann learned to play the piano. "But I haven't played for a while," she said, lamenting that her upright piano just didn't fit in the homes where she lived.

Ehemann graduated from the former Parkesburg High School and the former Lancaster Business College.

While in college, Ehemann was a waitress in the Poconos each summer. She still likes to vacation in the mountains, while her late husband enjoyed going to the seashore.

After college, Ehemann worked in the advertising department at Watt & Shand. She took proofs and did some writing as well as stenographic work. She recalled they had only manual typewriters at that time.

She earned $13 per week during the Depression and was entitled to a 15 percent discount on purchases.

When she was 33 years old, she married William Ehemann, who she met on a blind date.

After she married, Ehemann quit her job, but would sub when she was needed.

The Ehemanns had no children, and William, who worked at Armstrong World Industries, died when he was in his 50s.

After William's death, Ehemann returned to Watt & Shand on a part-time basis until she was 78.

"Watt & Shand was the place" to be downtown, Ehemann said. "I'm glad they saved the facade."

Ehemann lived alone in Lancaster until she was 95. She now lives at Brethren Village in Neffsville and is a member of St. Mary's Catholic Church in Lancaster.

Ehemann said in her younger years she enjoyed dancing at Rocky Springs Park.

"I was great for (ballroom) dances on the weekends," she said. "I learned to dance as a child."

Ehemann volunteered for the United Way back in the days when it was known as the Community Chest.

She enjoyed oil and acrylic painting, especially flowers. Ehemann's painting teachers included nationally known artist the late Charles X. Carlson, who lived in Lancaster County.

Other hobbies Ehemann enjoyed included embellishing stationery with dried flowers from her garden and canning jellies. She now enjoys word puzzles.

E-mail: lvaningen@lnpnews.com