100th Birthday Parade, Celebration Set For Basking Ridge Native

BASKING RIDGE, NJ — Clara Stairs, a native of Basking Ridge, will truly have the birthday celebration of a century. She celebrated her 100th birthday on Tuesday and will continue the festivities on Saturday at The Chelsea at Warren, a senior living community in Somerset County.

On Tuesday, her actual birthday, the community held festivities including a party with cake and musical entertainment. They also honored her during their weekly Bingo game.

On Saturday, Stairs' family and friends will be on hand in a drive-by parade around The Chelsea at Warren campus including a police escort.

Prior to the parade, Deputy Mayor Gary DiNardo will present Stairs with a proclamation at 11 a.m. in Chelsea’s lobby.

Stairs grew up in Greensburg, Pennsylvania on a farm. It's the same city that she met her husband, Henry, who she was married to for more than 68 years until he died. They raised their son and two daughters in Branchburg.

Stairs was a clerical worker for the entirety of her career including a job with Phillips-Van Heusen Corporation, now known as PVH Corp. in Piscataway. Prior to that she worked at Baker and Taylor in Somerville.

When their kids eventually left the house, she and her husband moved back to Western Pennsylvania, but was persuaded to join her children in New Jersey as she got older, settling in Basking Ridge.

Stairs has lived at Chelsea for more than four years. She loves her family, bingo, bird watching, and playing the slot machines.