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"Nearly a century after William Collins served as a sharpshooter in the calvary in World War I, his 110-year-old wife finally is receiving military benefits.
With assistance from U.S. Rep. Mark Critz, D-Johnstown, Alda Collins, who turns 110 this week, is getting about $1,000 a month to assist with her stay at a nursing home north of Ebensburg.
It's a far cry from the $36 a month she had been receiving, said her son, James, 73, of Carrolltown.
"I've been trying to get this for some time," James Collins said.
In all, Alda Collins will receive about $25,000 in back benefits, dating to when her son applied for the money four years ago.
Alda Collins is believed to be one of the three oldest Pennsylvanians. She lived by herself in a trailer in Carrolltown until she was 106, and still can use a walker to get to the bathroom, feeds herself, reads the National Enquirer regularly and "can tell you the Pirates are in second place," her son said.
For years, Alda Collins taught in a one-room schoolhouse in Somerset, the kind that had a pot-belly stove in the middle of the room for heat.
Born in 1902, she was 5 years old when she saw her first car.
"She called out to her mother, 'Look, here comes a buggy without a horse,'" her son said."
"Nearly a century after William Collins served as a sharpshooter in the calvary in World War I, his 110-year-old wife finally is receiving military benefits.
With assistance from U.S. Rep. Mark Critz, D-Johnstown, Alda Collins, who turns 110 this week, is getting about $1,000 a month to assist with her stay at a nursing home north of Ebensburg.
It's a far cry from the $36 a month she had been receiving, said her son, James, 73, of Carrolltown.
"I've been trying to get this for some time," James Collins said.
In all, Alda Collins will receive about $25,000 in back benefits, dating to when her son applied for the money four years ago.
Alda Collins is believed to be one of the three oldest Pennsylvanians. She lived by herself in a trailer in Carrolltown until she was 106, and still can use a walker to get to the bathroom, feeds herself, reads the National Enquirer regularly and "can tell you the Pirates are in second place," her son said.
For years, Alda Collins taught in a one-room schoolhouse in Somerset, the kind that had a pot-belly stove in the middle of the room for heat.
Born in 1902, she was 5 years old when she saw her first car.
"She called out to her mother, 'Look, here comes a buggy without a horse,'" her son said."
