Meet Our March Resident of the Month!

Say hello to Estrilda Ziegler, our Resident of the Month.

Ms. Estrilda “Ziggy” Ziegler was born in North Philadelphia in 1945, one of four children.  She shared that her father named her Estrilda after seeing the name in a book on birds;  Estrilda is a type of finch, a beautiful light gray little bird with a scarlet mask over its eyes.  Also, in German “Estrilda” means ice battler or goddess of war.  In talking to Miss Ziggy, one can see that her name suits her well.  Miss Ziggy says that people who know her know that she is crazy and that if they do something wrong, she will tell them.   

After graduating from Kensington High School, she worked at several factories, usually in a supervisory role, until her retirement in 2010.  Miss Ziggy is also very proud of her family, including her daughter Tamara, her five grandchildren, and seven great-grand children. Photographs of them are on display in her room and she will happily tell you about them.  Miss Ziggy is a social butterfly, but don’t ever do anything to make her give you ‘The Look’, because then you’ll get a piece of her mind! 

Meet Our February Residents of the Month!

Say hello to Margaret Lawrence & Beatrice Collier, our Residents of the Month.

We’re doing something different for February.  Instead of having just one resident featured, we’re having two!  Sisters Margaret and Beatrice both live here at Renaissance.  Miss Margaret is the older by 3 years, and between them they have 193 years of life experience.  They were born to Ziba and Izabelle Stokes, who owned a farm in Coatesville, PA.  They were two of ten children, five boys and five girls.  They have two other living siblings, their sister Rosie, who has also stayed here with us, and their younger brother, Georgie. Miss Margaret’s daughter, Renee, jokingly calls the three sisters The Golden Girls.   

Miss Margaret met her husband, William, at the Church of Christ; they were together until his death.  Miss Beatrice met her husband, John, through a mutual friend.  

Their words of advice: “Continue in school; be true to yourself with what you want to be. Don’t let anybody talk you out of it” and, “Be honest. Listen to what your parents tell you—most of the time it’s true.” 

(Pictured, left to right, are Miss Beatrice, Miss Renee, and Miss Margaret.)