Happy 93rd Birthday to Celia Nott of Elfrida.

Natalie Lakosil/Douglas Dispatch Celia Nott, admirers her birthday flowers she received from a friend Thursday, she turned 93.

Nott is a longtime resident of Douglas and Elfrida. She moved to Douglas in 1947 because of her late husband, Paul’s health. They moved out west from Michigan after doctor’s told Celia her husband only had 6 months to live if they remained in Michigan.

The climate change and dry heat of Arizona kept Paul alive and together they opened Dixie Drive-In and then Frontier Drive-In in 1949. Celia worked as sewing instructor at the Singer Sewing Shop on G Avenue.

The couple also lived on Fort Huachuca for a little more than a year, Where Celia worked as secretary to the head of Quartermaster Division, before moving to Elfrida.

Paul and Celia started and ran Elfrida’s first ever water system, Elfrida Water for five years. Paul then returned back to Fort Huachuca where he was told be the Provost Marshall, “that if he would open an insurance office just outside the gate all soldiers requiring “on post Insurance” would be sent to him, Celia said. This started Nott’s Insurance, which later became Sierra Vista Insurance.

During this time he also went to Washington D.C. to obtain funds to build the first building of the Old Buena High School. Paul passed away in 1982.

Celia was and is still involved at the Elfrida Baptist Church, she also enjoyed sewing, crafting, playing piano and flower arranging in the previous years. In 1987, Celia was certified by Laubach Literacy Action to tutor non-English speaking persons to learn to speak, read and write English.

In 1998 she was honored with the “Arizona Heart of Family and Community Education Award” and elected to represent Arizona at the national conference in North Dakota.

She was a member of the original Webb Mother’s Extension Homemaker’s Club, name later changed to FCE. When the club disbanded she joined the Bisbee Bees Club until she injured her femur and was unable to be mobile for some time.

She enjoyed being a leader and member of many of these clubs for more than 50 years and has received many awards for her contributions.

Celia still lives in the bright pink house she shared with Paul so many years ago. To this day she enjoys gardening, telling jokes and stories and writing poems. Celia has a book full of poems she has composed over the years and agreed to share one written by her on Sept. 1, 2006.

Quest for Knowledge

Man has pierced into the heavens

To distances that boggle the mind

His thirst for knowledge still unquenched,

Perhaps habitation out there to find.

He has harnessed the force of water,

Regulates and purifies the air

Controls and utilizes sun’s rays

Now faces wind’s ravages to repair.

Scientists scrutinize the test tubes,

Global diseases to abate,

Food for increasing millions,

Human suffering to alleviate.

Those new found planets just don’t faze me,

I’m not keen for ‘what’s out there!’

I’m content to read ‘In the beginning, God..’

From the comfort of my easy chair.

I wouldn’t stifle man’s quest for knowledge,

To do so would indeed be crass,

For God still holds the secret,

The mystery of a lowly blade of grass.