November 13, 2009
 
Nursing home resident is 102 years old

GOFFSTOWN - Hillsborough County Nursing Home has several residents that have passed the century mark in age. One of these ladies is Helen Salter, who turned 102 on Sept. 11.

She was born north of Wilkes-Barre, Pa., in the small town of Tunkhannock, Pa., to Percy Stark and Fanny Dornsife Stark. This was a rural area where most residents ran dairy farms as a livelihood. Her father was an educator and her mother a homemaker. Her father also worked in wholesale foods and brought the first grapefruit to the area, their home enjoyed the first oil burning furnace as well.

Salter received a teaching degree from Westchester State College and did her student teaching in New Jersey. After her marriage to Walter Russell Salter on June 16, 1928, they lived in Manhattan, N.Y. Salter longed for her beloved Mount Avery and Mount Miller, the mountains she climbed as a small child and into her late 40s.

Walter and Helen Salter relocated to Tunkhannock, where he also fell in love with this countryside and became the dairy commissioner.

When she suggested moving back to Manhattan, he confessed he wanted to spend the rest of his days exactly where they were. Salter had given up teaching and become a full-time homemaker.

The Salters loved Canada and would vacation in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick several times a year. Gardening, cooking and baking also became lifelong passions. Though these pastimes have since been given up she still enjoys game shows and card games.

Helen and Walter Salter celebrated their 75th wedding anniversary in 2003, and Walter died in 2004. Helen Salter then relocated to New Hampshire to be near her daughter, Elizabeth Dunn, and her two grandchildren.

Dunn visits every day, and they spend their time chatting and playing cards.