Pleasanton Man Celebrates 100th Birthday With Surprise Party

PLEASANTON, CA — When you turn 100 years old, it’s nice to get 100 people to surprise you with a party, songs, and even 100 birthday cards.

That’s what happened to Dan Ashton, a resident at Stoneridge Creek in Pleasanton who celebrated his hundredth birthday on Friday. Ashton, who has lived in Pleasanton for nearly 50 of those 100 years, was greeted by a surprise crowd of singers, family, friends, neighbors, and Pleasanton Mayor Karla Brown. A group of high schoolers also hand-delivered 100 birthday cards created by the students. Ashton even received a congratulatory letter from the White House.

“The whole thing has been overwhelming,” Ashton said in an emailed statement. “I received over 500 birthday cards, telephone calls, and emails. A lot of the people are people I don’t even know or haven’t talked to in a very long time. I’m very pleased to hear from them again.”

Ashton grew up in Oregon, and served three years as a Navy Lieutenant during World War II. He became a chemical engineer and moved to Pleasanton in 1975 with his late wife, according to Stoneridge Creek Life Enrichment Director Susan Filice. He traveled the world on mission trips helping people impacted by natural disasters, including Hurricane Katrina.

He’s lived at Stoneridge Creek for 11 years, where he attends exercise classes three times a week, helps coordinate lectures, and “tinkers” around in the community woodshop.

“You have to pick your ancestry carefully,” he said as a tongue-in-cheek reply to how to age as gracefully as he has. “You have to live a healthy and socially active life and contribute to society.”