Chocolates, 92 Candles and a Shot

How better to celebrate 92 years on Earth than getting the COVID-19 vaccine?
At least that’s how Marion Blanchette saw it on Saturday, February 13 – her 92nd birthday. “I was waiting until it was my turn,” she says, “and I was anxious. But it was perfect. It ran so smooth – no waiting, nothing.” She also has rave reviews for the staff. “One nurse even got me some chocolates for my birthday. They were all so nice.”
Marion is a long-time Burlingtonian born at home in 1929, which makes her too young to have lived through the 1918 flu pandemic. “One pandemic is enough,” she says. She and her husband, William, a cabinet-maker, raised their kids, Brad and Laurie Edith, in the Old North End.
After getting the vaccination, Marion felt good enough to drop by Ray’s Seafood to further celebrate her big day with some fried clams (which, by the way, were excellent).
To anyone who might be nervous about getting the vaccine, she heartily recommends it. “I can’t think of a reason you wouldn’t get it. There were no surprises at all – except for the birthday chocolates!”