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Happy Birthday, Della!
Della Sheetz never expected to live to be one hundred years old. She was ill as a child, she suffered from chronic appendicitis. Growing old was not anything she really thought about.
“When I think about it, it seems like it all passed in a dream,” she said.
Della moved to Arizona with her husband Adam in August of 1945 from Ohio. Her first day in Arizona was one that was celebrated throughout the world, it was August 15, 1945 and it was the day that Japan surrendered the war.
“We were driving through Oak Creek Canyon on our way into Prescott,” she said. “We stopped at a well at the bottom of the canyon and that is where people were gathered sharing the news.”
For Della and her family that was a great relief. She had many family members who went away to fight in the war, and an uncle who never made it home.
“We had run out of gas in Albuquerque, New Mexico,” she said. “A nice person there gave us a gas stamp and that got us to Prescott. When we went to use our last gas stamp to fill up in Prescott, the gas station attendant told them, the gas rations are over. The war is over.”
The trip from Ohio took eight days back then, traveling only at 35 miles per hour.
“Today it takes us two and a half days,” she said.
For her the scariest part of growing up was during the war.
“We had to black out our windows so no light would come out from them. It was scary and I didn’t like that one bit,” she said.
She was married to her husband Adam Sheetz for 43 years.
“My time with him was not long enough,” she said. “There was no one like him. He was wonderful. I never loved anyone else.”
Adam worked in law enforcement and as a mechanic in Ohio. When they settled in Glendale, he decided it was just too hot in the Valley so he came to Superior to work in the mines where he worked as a hoistman and eventually he went to work for the Pinal County Sheriff’s Office. He worked with Sheriff Coy DeArmann. One of her favorite stories about his career is when he rescued a monkey from under a house in Superior.
“The two little girls were just laughing and laughing,” she said. They didn’t know who to call so they called the sheriff and Adam had to go under the neighbor’s house to rescue the pet monkey.
Della and Adam had three daughters, Ruth, Jackie and Jean, and today their family legacy has grown to 10 grandchildren and more than 100 great and great-great-grandchildren.
“Five generations are in my family. I don’t think I will see a sixth,” she said.
Della remembers the day she first came to see Superior with Adam. She recalled that there was a soap box derby race going down Magma Ave.
“I remember watching the children race the cars and one of them broke their arm. I moved to Superior officially on October 1, 1949,” she said. They lived in Superior until 1966. Adam retired and they moved to Camp Verde for a while and then she moved into the East Valley. She moved back to Superior in 2004.
Della remembers a Superior that was booming when the mines were open. She would come back to visit and see the empty buildings when the mine closed.
“It is nice to see the buildings start to have life again. The hotel (Magma Hotel) never looked that beautiful before. I am happy to see that,” she said.
She has lived through many societal changes. She remembers riding in the first car in her family which belonged to her grandfather. It was a Ford Roadster that had icing glass, which would allow the passengers to snap the glass in as needed.
She lived a life at a time when women did not have the right to vote then earned the right to vote, something many in these current times take for granted.
“I really wasn’t into voting, but my husband wanted me to vote to I registered as a Democrat until four years ago and then I changed to a Republican,” she said. “I vote for the person, not the party. I have never voted a straight ticket.”
The best innovation or advancement was “medicine and health care,” she explained. Della suffered two heart attacks and a broken hip and she explained that the doctors who took care of her prescribed her medication and carefully put her back together was something that amazed her. She did comment that kids in the past did not seem to get the illnesses and diseases they get today.
She credits her long life to good clean living. She grew up on a farm which required a lot of physical work.
“I never really drank or smoked,” she said, adding, “Well, I didn’t want my children to see me smoking so I stopped.”
Their first television was a 20-inch television that had fake wood like a naugahyde on it. “My husband would invite his friends over to watch wrestling,” she said. She wasn’t a fan of wrestling but said his friends were always gentlemen. She much preferred to watch love stories and cooking shows. She liked to watch sports; she always wanted to learn how to play golf but her husband was not a fan of “Cow Pasture Pool.” She enjoyed sewing her daughter’s clothes and shooting her .22 rifle.
Her job as a mother and wife evolved into her working at the Murray Drugstore. She worked preparing food and ice cream treats. She enjoyed seeing the public and remembers many of the customers and longtime residents. She went on to become Pinal County’s first female dispatcher. “I kept the radio at my house and handled the calls that affected Superior and the surrounding area,” she said. She also worked as an inspector for female inmates and females visiting the jail.
She said if she had to use the internet, she would figure it out and use it; but she doesn’t have a need for that. She does think a cell phone would be more convenient for her.
While she moves a little slower than she would prefer, she is still very aware of the current day issues. Her memory is sharp and she still has much wisdom to share with this world.
The Arboretum Apartments and Gemini Hospice hosted a birthday party for her last week with her neighbors at the apartments. On Sunday, her family from all over Arizona and as far away as Missouri came and celebrated with her at the VFW.
Happy birthday, Della!
Mila Besich is a resident of Superior with two children. She volunteers for many local organizations. She is an experienced fundraiser and event planner for Copper Corridor Economic Development Coalition. She covers some of the area town councils and schools.
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