Ava Kerr received a surprise birthday party on Nov. 29 for turning 98 from fellow residents of The Vintage, 109 W. Brackett Road, Sequim.

She’s the oldest resident at the apartment complex and has lived in Sequim for five years.

Prior, she lived in Detroit, Mich., and the surrounding area for more than 40 years.

Kerr’s son Donn was there to celebrate and said his mother did a lot for him and his sister Kelly.

She recalls one story about moving north during severe inclement weather.

❝When my children were about 8 and 10, we lived down in Florida for about a year before moving to the Detroit area.

When we got back to the area, we needed to get a place to stay. I borrowed $20 to put a deposit on an apartment from a friend.

Most of our belongings were in northern Michigan, so I drove the three of us in a blizzard 200 miles. I don’t know how we did this but I drove the Plymouth with a trailer and a tarp on top of it.

In the middle of the night, we moved all of our stuff up into a second story apartment. Later on, I got a regular job as an administrative secretary and within three years bought my own home.❞

Kerr has a brother, Bill, 90, two children, Donn, 64, and Kelly, 62, and one granddaughter and one great-granddaughter.

She also traveled to all 48 states in a motor home with her older sister Bernice after retirement.