By David Fleet
Editor
Atlas Twp.- When Audrey Lachenman was born on Dec. 18, 1917—the average wage was 22 cents per hour; it took five days to travel from New York to London and only 8 percent of Americans finished high school.
On Monday, friends and family members gathered at Raspberry Manor to celebrate Lachenman’s 100th birthday.
Lachenman grew up in the Baltimore area the daughter of John Parks—a Maryland area ship captain.
“John had three ships used for fishing off the East coast,” said Wayne Cinguegrani, 76, her son. “A hurricane came up and took the family home along with the three ships. He lost everything. After that her father started over again in the construction business. He worked on bringing Baltimore’s first indoor plumbing to the cities row houses. At that time they still used outhouses in the city.”
Lachenman married Pete Cinquegrani in 1937.
“Mom was a homemaker and worked out of the house when dad served in World War II,” he said.
Pete Cinquegrani died in 1970. She married Alford Lachenman in 1978. The couple moved to Myrtle Beach where they lived until Pete’s death in 2001. She moved to Michigan in 2004 and lived with her son Wayne. In 2009 she was diagnosed with second stage Alzheimer’s and moved to Raspberry Manor.
“Mom is a great collector of a variety of items,” he said. “She never smoked or drank, I would say that’s how she made it to 100 years old.”
Lachenman also has a daughter, Darlene.