LUMBERTON — One of Wesley Pines Retirement Home’s longest-lived residents celebrated her 100th birthday on Thursday.

Doris Almond Peeler was born in 1925 and raised on a farmstead in Raeford. She has spent most of her life living in various towns around Hoke and Robeson Counties before settling in the Raeford area, and then moving to the Wesley Pines retirement home in 2010.

Peeler attended Hoke County High School and enjoyed a long career as a Belk’s saleswoman at the Lumberton store.

“The stores were small, and it was like a family,” Peeler said. “I enjoyed the people and helping my customers. We sold the whole outfit: the dress, the hat, the shoes, etc. We sold the whole outfit to our customers.”

Peeler’s family knows her as a strong, always active woman with a great sense of humor

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