For 100-year-old Noblesville woman, McDonald's is always on the menu

NOBLESVILLE, Ind. — At first glance, the woman in the stylish veiled hat might look out of place at McDonald’s. But Dorothy Fletcher of Noblesville is right at home amid the lunchtime crowd. A week shy of her 100th birthday, she’s a regular at the fast-food restaurant. And the former hairdresser always wears a chic hat.

She's been dressed and ready for this lunch for hours, her daughter-in-law says. Her nails are perfectly manicured, sporting glittery gold polish.

On this day, she’s eating a cheeseburger, drinking a lemonade and taking a trip down memory lane at the Village Center Drive restaurant that's practically in her backyard. That's by design. She agreed to move to Pebble Brook Village Apartments a few months ago because she could almost see the Golden Arches from her patio. Now she can eat there daily if she chooses.

Whoever says fast food is bad food might want to chat with Dorothy. She’s been eating it for more decades than she cares to count. Dorothy will celebrate her 100th birthday Dec. 23.

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She didn’t set out to be a centenarian. Who does? 

“I’ve always been healthy,” she says in between bites of a cheeseburger. “I never thought to be a 100, it just happened. But I’m grateful for it, and I’ve been fortunate to be able to live by myself and enjoy everything.”

For her, "everything" includes Big Macs, French fries, pancakes and the occasional McRib. "I love the McRib. That’s one of my favorites. Have you had one? They’re wonderful. I like it all."

No one is paying her to say this. Really. But restaurant owner Rich Koopmann might have found a new spokesperson for the company.

When he found out how much his oldest customer likes Mickey-D's, he wanted to help her celebrate her big birthday by providing food and McDonald's swag, including a VIP card, at one of four parties being held in her honor this month. It's a party he won't miss.

"Her family wanted to make sure she could have McDonald's whenever she wants it, and we'd love to accommodate that," he said. "We hope she’s able to come 10 or 20 more years. Wouldn't that be something?"

Dorothy has outlived her husband, two sons and three siblings, but her daughter-in-law, Jaci Fletcher, and granddaughter, Laura Fletcher, dote on her. Jaci Fletcher lives across the street and checks on her every day.

Other than being hard of hearing — "I say what a lot" — Dorothy is remarkably healthy and fit. She reads a lot and gets her nails done once a month. She gave up sewing, knitting and playing piano, but she still drives, though she's agreed it might be time to turn in her keys on her birthday.

In case you’re wondering, Dorothy is petite — under 5 feet and about 120 pounds. "I used to be 5 foot 2, but I've shrunk." She's never worried about her weight. "I never weighed over a hundred pounds until I was in my 50s." She jokes that her body is full of preservatives, and that's why she's lived so long.

She cooked plenty of meals when her boys were young and was famous for her green beans and fried biscuits, but now she mostly makes coffee — "I drink a lot of coffee" — and the occasional batch of chocolate bourbon balls.

She tells the story of how a repairman found a fifth of Old Forester bourbon she kept under her sink to make the holiday treat.

"I told him I use it to make candy. I don't think he believed me, but I don't care." 

Dorothy was born in Vincennes two days before Christmas in 1917 in the midst of World War I. She remembers buying hamburgers for a nickel when she was in high school, but that might have been from White Castle because McDonald's wouldn't come along for another 20 years or so.

She wed Ronnie Fletcher at 21, celebrating 60 years of marriage before he died in 1999. She remembers the turbulent years of World War II, the rationing, the friends lost in the fighting. Her contribution was to serve in the motor pool for the Office of Civil Defense, a non-military effort to prepare Americans for attack.

"They didn't put me in the motor pool because I was a good driver, but I had a car. We had mock air raids, and I was their secret weapon. If people knew Dorothy was out there driving, they stayed inside."

Our lunchtime chat is over, the cheeseburger is gone, and it's time for Dorothy and her entourage to make the 30-second drive home. What will she do the rest of the day? "Sleep. I nap a lot."

Call IndyStar reporter Maureen Gilmer at (317) 444-6879. Email: maureen.gilmer@indystar.com. Follow her on Facebook and Twitter.