For the last 100 years, today’s date was not only a celebration
of the birth of Jesus Christ, but a celebration of her own birth as
well.

Helen Pytcher Shillinger, a Bradford native now living at The
Pavilion at Bradford Regional Medical Center, will not only
celebrate Christmas today, but her 100th birthday as well.

Shillinger, who was born and raised in Bradford, also lived many
years in Ormsby, where she started teaching school – something she
did for more than 30 years and “liked every day of it” she told The
Era Thursday.

According to Connie Eymer, a long-time friend and fellow
teacher, Shillinger walked two miles to the school in Ormsby and
built a fire each day for her students so the school would be warm
before they arrived.

In addition to the school in Ormsby, she taught in Cyclone, West
Branch and Custer City, where she taught second grade for 27
years.

In all those years, Shillinger joked, she had only one bad
student. But even that little boy grew into a good man, she
said.

Many things have changed over the years for Shillinger, but one
thing that has stayed the same, of course, is celebrating her
birthday on Christmas.

When asked how Christmas traditions have changed over her many
years, she said that when she was a child, she and her siblings had
to wait until a certain time Christmas morning to open their gifts,
and then would play with their toys – which were handmade many
times, she said – all day Christmas day while they waited for
Christmas dinner.

Christmas undoubtedly changed for Shillinger when she married
her husband, Robert Shillinger, who is now deceased, and had their
son and daughter – Nancy Shillinger Kress and John Shillinger. It
was her turn to wrap the toys and make the holiday meal. And now
that she is a grandmother of six and great-grandmother of 10,
Christmas is more like it was when she was a child, with the gifts
and Christmas dinner provided for her courtesy of someone else.

This year, though, it will be her daughter who makes Christmas
dinner, not her late mother. Shillinger said she plans to celebrate
Christmas with her daughter, who is coming into Bradford from
Penfield to make a holiday meal for her at The Pavilion.

When asked if she ever felt cheated for having to celebrate her
birthday on Christmas, Shillinger replied, “No, no, not one bit,”
adding she always received two gifts and two cards each year – one
for Christmas and one for her birthday.

Shillinger said some of her favorite Christmas memories were
those she celebrated with her students. She put up a Christmas tree
in her classroom every year, she said, and held a gift exchange for
her students.

She said she made candy and baked goods for her students, but
always received more than she gave, as her students and their
parents always remembered her at Christmas, too.

Keeping in that tradition, Shillinger received an early
Christmas gift/birthday present Thursday during her interview for
this story.

Eymer presented Shillinger with a certificate of appreciation
and recognition from the Pennsylvania Association of School
Retirees Thursday at The Pavilion.

“Whereas Helen Pytcher Shillinger has faithfully served the
retired school employees of the McKean County chapter of PASR and
the five chapter area of Region X for many years … (and) held a
distinguished career in public education … for more than thirty
years and upon retiring, she continued her concern for education …
(and) whereas she has been a devoted member of her local community
… the Board of Directors of the Pennsylvania Association of School
Retirees pause in its deliberation to recognize the many years of
devoted service contributed by (Shillinger), extend to her our
appreciation and express our most sincere wish that she continue to
provide the many blessings she bestows upon her community and this
great association for many years to follow,” the certificate reads
in part.

Shillinger is a graduate of Edinboro University and Indiana
State Normal School. Later, she attended Fredonia and St.
Bonaventure universities in New York, receiving her bachelor’s
degree from St. Bonaventure.