Bethel Park honors residents over age 90

The mulitpurpose area at Bethel Park Community Center was reassuringly crowded, given the nature of the event.

Oct. 3 marked the 21st annual gathering of the 90-Plus Club, with a room full of nonagenarian Bethel Park residents gathered for lunch and celebration. Many were new members, attending for the first time.

Among the guests were two people who not only reached 100, but did so quite a while ago. And judging by their relative appearances, few folks probably would come close to guessing their ages.

Jean Benson turned 107 the day after the event, having been born five weeks before the end of World War I. She still was teaching lessons for South Arts in Bethel Park after becoming a centenarian, specializing in tole, the folk art of decorative painting. Benson particularly enjoys replicating the appearance of flowers and fruit.

In May, Nicholas Scarlatelli turned 105. A native of Carrick, he enlisted in the U.S. Army Air Forces shortly after the bombing of Pearl Harbor and was dispatched to the Panama Canal. Scarlatelli is last active World War II member of VFW Post 1810 in Brentwood.

The 90-Plus club was instituted 21 years ago by Clifford Morton, Bethel Park’s mayor at the time. He died in September 2023, shortly after his 90th birthday.

He and his wife, Joan, were married for 67 years. She now attends the 90-Plus Club as a member.

Since he was elected Mayor Jack Allen has served as master of ceremonies for each year’s event.