One Hundred Reasons to Celebrate Willa's Birthday

The common room at Belmont Manor Nursing and Rehab Center was festooned in purple (or was that lilac?) on Monday, July 29 from the balloons to the flowers in every guest's lapels.

It was a theatrical crowd in the room, with Larry Macdonald, the president of the Belmont Dramatic Club (in his tux), playing host on "this very special occasion," he said.

And in her chair next to the door, dressed in her favorite purple with a tiara on her head, Willa Wye Rockett was placed in the spotlight. 

On Monday, the long-time Belmont and Sherman Gardens resident turned 100. And like most of her life, this was Willa's production.

The centenarian helped arrange the celebration at the Manor, making sure everyone was notified and that purple would be the color of the day. 

"I want to thank all of you for coming," she said in a clear voice, noting those who traveled from Cape Cod, from Worcester and New Jersey. You all came a long way."

On Monday, it was a day to celebrate an honored member of the Belmont community with proclamations from the state (thanks to state Sen. Will Brownsberger) and the town (presented by Selectman Andy Rojas) and kind remanences from family and friends. 

For many in town, Rockett has been a keystone to the 110-year-old Belmont Dramatic Society – only a decade older than Rockett – acting, directing, producing some of the early productions before going behind the scenes – since she joined in 1940 and continues to be an honorary board member. 

Rockett was born in Needham "to begin with" before the family moved to Milwaukee, Wisconsin before traveling back to Needham before settling in Winchendon on the New Hampshire border when was was known as "Toy Town" for the Morton E. Converse & Company toy company.

"That's where I went to high school, where I had my happy days," Rockett told Belmont Patch in between greeting well wishers including six-month-old Emmett Rockett, the youngest of her extended family of nieces and nephews. 

Willa attended the prestigious Leland Powers School of the Theater on Evans Way in Boston's Fenway neighborhood at the same time as the great character actor Reta Shaw. She studied acting and elocution before beginning a career teaching public speaking, acting and speech in Belmont for many years. She also worked at a Boston insurance company until she was 85.

She married in the 1940s but has been a widow for nearly a half century. For many years, she lived in a two-family on Trapelo Road with her parents on the first floor. She moved in with her mother on Harriet Avenue a few years after her husband's death.

Rockett loved to travel and would never missed a chance to head off to the Cape and loved visiting Nantucket. Her niece said one of her biggest thrills was winning a drug store contest which allowed her to take her mother on her mother's 75th birthday on a tour of Paris.

For the legion of friends and family, it was Willa's unending friendship and support that was celebrated, of a woman who would send written notes on every birthday and event, small and large. 

"It was Willa who brought me into the club and also introduced me to my wife, Janet, and we have been married for 47 years," said Macdonald. 

"Oh my. I could not have lived in a better place. I'm so so lucky to have all of you. I love you all," she told her friends and family. 

"I guess I've worn you all out," she concluded, to an eruption of laughter.