Veronica Theney, one of Lehigh’s eldest residents, celebrated her 106th birthday amongst family, friends and a few special visits by Lee County leaders, Wednesday, Aug. 4. PHOTO PROVIDED

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One of Lehigh’s eldest residents celebrated her 106th birthday amongst family, friends and a few special visits by Lee County leaders. On Wednesday, Aug. 4, Lehigh Acres Place staff helped long-time resident Veronica Theney celebrate turning 106 years old.

Theney was joined by family members who flew in to say a special hello and a few close friends, who helped make sure her birthday party was very memorable.

Theney’s nieces, Patricia Ryan-Fouts, who flew down with her husband from Bloomington, Illinois and Mary Kay Schneider from Strongsville, Ohio, both came to be with the aunt on this memorable day.

According to her nieces, their father, Eugene Ryan was Theney’s brother. The two siblings were very competitive as to who would outlive the other.

“Our father, unfortunately, did not make it to 100, and passed away. Veronica also has two sisters, one still living at 102 years old. The other sister passed away at 101,” Ryan-Fouts said.

A party would not be complete without some entertainment and then a few special appearances from prominent members of the community who stopped by to add a special touch to the celebration.

Lee County Commissioner Cecil Pendergrass came by to be part of Theney’s special day and thank her for being a part of the community.

“God bless you. Thank you for everything. You have a wonderful life, and it is very nice to meet your family. All of you have a great and beautiful day. Happy birthday,” Pendergrass said.

Fort Myers Mayor Kevin Anderson’s office also sent a special Certificate of Celebration, and South Florida’s radio show host, John Tesh from Sunny 106.3 stopped by with a bag of goodies for the birthday honoree.

Theney is the oldest of eight brothers and two sisters, and says that longevity runs in her family. Growing up in difficult times, she always placed high value on her close relationship with her family.

According to her nieces, Theney grew up in northern Illinois, but spent her life traveling the world with her job as an accountant with the Army Corps of Engineers. Her career took her to live in places including Turkey, Greece, Japan and Italy.

“Her favorite place to live was Italy and that’s where she met the love of her life, her husband. During her time in Italy, my aunt became an artist and painted a lot. She and her husband traveled and loved going to the opera. Unfortunately, they were only married for five years before he tragically passed away,” Ryan-Fouts said.

In an earlier interview in 2020, Theney said, “I loved to travel and was able to do a lot of it working for the government. We relocated quite a bit to construct Naval Bases in Europe and Asia. One of our projects was to restore the Okinawa Naval Base in Okinawa Japan following its destruction in 1945.”

Theney retired at the age of 58 and moved to Lehigh Acres where she has remained ever since.

“My aunt lived on her own until she was 92 years old and then we moved her into Fountain Crest. Then, just a little under 2 year ago in June, she moved here to Lehigh Acres Place,” Ryan-Fouts said.

Lehigh Acres Place is at 1251 Business Way.

For more information visit https://www.enlivant.com/communities/florida/lehigh-acres-place.