Birthdays are all about surprises. When Alice Foreman approached her 90th birthday, she experienced her first big surprise: a birthday party at her church, Chester Baptist.
“I thought I was going to a book signing at my church, and then to Dillard’s to exchange some clothes I had bought,” she said.
The April 14 book signing turned out to be a surprise with 75 to 80 friends, former co-workers and family members.
“All of my friends were there. My bridge friends, church friends and folks I worked with at John Randolph Hospital before I retired,” she said. “My family has been wonderful for this birthday.”
On her birthday morning, April 19, her only plans were to get her hair fixed and visit her husband, John, who is in rehab from a broken hip at Colonial Heights Rehabilitation Center.
Looking out the window with her cup of coffee, she saw a few ornamental pink flamingos in the backyard. Her daughter, Sallie Scaton-Elliot, arrived for a visit and directed her to the front window. There she saw the remainder of the 90 flamingos.
“The flamingos have landed,” she said. “It was a real surprise, the surprise of my life.”
Foreman, a retired nurse, has lived in Chester 47 years.
“Everywhere she goes in Chester, Alice runs into numerous people she knows,” said her daughter-in-law, Debbie Foreman. “She has always been very active in several organizations in her community, including the Woman’s Club of Chester, Red Cross activities, and Chester Baptist Church and many others. She is still very busy taking care of her family and friends.”
Foreman attributes her longevity to her family. Her dad lived to be 105 years old, and she had several sisters live to be in their 90s with one of them approaching her 94th birthday.
Foreman and her husband have three children; two sons, Victor and Bert; a daughter, Sallie; six grandchildren, three boys and three girls; and a great-granddaughter.
