Irene Scherr, a resident of Luther Crest Retirement Community, South Whitehall, celebrated her 90th birthday with family and friends on Aug. 1.

Scherr’s family gathered at the entrance to the Cambridge building, due to the coronavirus pandemic, to greet her with noise makers, balloons and Happy Birthday signs.

Born July 31, 1930, in the Lehigh Valley, she was the third of four children, and lived most of her youth on farms before moving to Egypt, Whitehall Township.

Related to most of the “Grims” in the area, both of her parents came from large families.

Irene lived in Ormrod for 52-plus years, moving there with her husband, Alfred, who died 25 years ago.

She and her husband raised their son, Charles, and twin daughters, Dawn and Denise, in Ormrod.

Irene has three grandsons and two granddaughters (two of which are twins, also).

She is a great-grandmother to three little girls, and is very proud of all of them.

Irene, the last living sibling, and her younger sister, Lillian, both widowed, moved to Luther Crest about eight years ago.

Her brother Paul “Super” died more than a decade ago.

Her older sister, Eleanor, lived to be 91, and her sister and best friend, Lillian, died May 16 from COVID-19.

Irene is a wonderful seamstress, having worked in sewing factories all her life.

She also has a natural talent for working with hair.

Although unschooled in cosmetology, she would cut and do home perms for her children and a few friends.

Coincidentally, her daughter, Dawn, picked up some of that interest and became a licensed hair stylist.

Irene is very much the socialite, she loves to play pinochle or almost any card or board game with her neighbors at Luther Crest, and do the daily cryptogram in the newspaper. A great Pennsylvania Dutch cook and baker, her specialty is nut roll.

She shows her love for family and friends by gifting her nut roll at holidays and special occasions. Irene enjoys taking an enjoyable scenic drive in the Valley, and she loves to shop.

When visiting in person isn’t possible, she loves to talk on the phone with family and friends for hours.

But most of all she loves to spend time with people reminiscing and telling stories from “back in the day.”

Irene has been featured in the Parkland Press many times when she worked in the kitchen of NOVA in Ormrod.