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Centenarian looks back on life full of creativity

Centenarian still paints, draws

Submitted photo At age 100, Irene Was of Warren is still painting and drawing. She also speaks conversational Polish and Spanish.

EDITOR’S NOTE: This is one of a series of Saturday profiles of area residents and their stories. To suggest a profile, contact features editor Burton Cole at bcole@tribtoday.com or metro editor Marly Kosinski at mkosinski@tribtoday.com.

WARREN — For Irene G. Was’ 100th birthday last week, she was gifted a bouquet of 100 roses.

A friend joked that if she sketched one rose per day for 100 days, she’d have the bouquet drawn in no time. After all, flowers are the subject of many of Was’ paintings and drawings.

The Warren woman said she has no intention of putting down her paintbrush. Just this year, she made two paintings of Mosquito Lake, of which she is proud. It’s getting harder for her to sketch up close, she said, but she can paint scenes at a distance, often losing herself in the work.

“If you are thinking about anything, once you start sketching or drawing, your entire focus, your entire energy that you have is focused on that sketch or painting,” Was said.

Was discovered art later in life, earning her bachelor’s degree in fine art from Kent State University at age 80. Before that, she was a wife, a mother of four girls, a singer and actor, an organist and choir director, and an educator.

EARLY LIFE

Was grew up on Gibson Street in Youngstown in a house that belonged to her aunt. She was the third of seven living children.

“We lived in a mixed ethnic neighborhood that got along very well. Polish, Slovak, Italian and African-American people,” Was said. “It was during the Depression, and we didn’t do many outside activities except play games on the street.”

At the age of about 18, Was moved to Warren, where she has lived ever since, although now she is staying with daughter Christine Zust in the greater Cleveland area.

Was’ husband, Thaddeus, was a mill worker at Thomas Steel, now known as Pittsburgh Steel. She said he was a “very good hard worker, a good husband and father.”

“Whenever I had a feeling to travel or do something different, he never, ever said no,” Was said.

EDUCATION

Was never graduated from high school, but she still went to college.

“At this point, I have two diplomas from Kent State and no diploma from high school,” Was said.

With her children still at home, Was returned to high school, taking a senior English class with her nephew, Patrick, in 1957. She discovered she could attend college without finishing high school if she passed an entrance exam.

She earned her bachelor’s in education from Kent State University in 1967.

“At that point I don’t think I knew one degree from the other or what I wanted. I think it was common for women to get a bachelor’s degree in education,” she said.

Was taught for 20 years in the Warren City Schools and five years at the now-closed St. Pius X Catholic elementary school. At St. Pius, there was no art teacher. Was found art projects for her class, and they loved it, she said. At the same time, she started taking classes at Trumbull Art Guild, now Trumbull Art Gallery.

“That changed my direction of interest,” Was said.

INTEREST IN ART

Nearly eight decades on in life, Was returned to Kent State to study fine art. One semester, she lived on campus in Engleman Hall. She earned her degree in 2000.

At graduation, Was remarked that she would love to have a show at the Butler Institute of American Art in Youngstown when she turned 90. Ten years later, museum executive director Dr. Louis Zona obliged. She had a retrospective show that included the first painting she made at Trumbull Art Guild.

“That made me very, very happy,” Was said.

Was painted a Packard automobile goddess sculpture for the Trumbull County Historical Society “Spectacle of Speed” community art project in 2007. She named her Goddess of Speed “Packardia” and themed hers around Packard Park, including painted branches from the park around the statue’s base.

“That was a big — I hate to use the word “plus” — that was a big carnation in my boutonniere,” Was said.

Two of Was’ paintings also were featured in a film, “The Samuel Project,” directed by Marc Fusco.

Was developed a special practice when she realized she was throwing away paint left over on her pallet after finishing each canvas. Now, she uses the remaining paint to create smaller, abstract “remnant paintings” that pair with each finished work.

“They’re done quickly and have a lot of motion in them,” Was said of the remnants. The paintings are displayed together, and Was said people often are drawn more to the remnant, because it is so “free and full of life.”

AN INSPIRATION

Was spent 10 years with Trumbull New Theatre in Niles, playing Madame Dubonnet in the company’s first musical performance, “The Boy Friend.”

“My mom had an amazing singing voice. She still does,” said daughter Zust.

Was appeared in a few other stage performances and reprised her role as Madame Dubonnet when the theater later put on the show again.

Granddaughter Jane Hare saw Was’ performance in “The Boy Friend” when she was 7. She credits the performance, along with Was’ other artistic endeavors, with inspiring her to pursue a career in film and TV.

“It’s also her spirit of tenacity, of curiosity, of women can do anything, and of embracing things new or different, at any age, that inspires me,” Hare said.

Also skilled on the keys, Was played organ at St. Joseph Catholic Church in Warren, then became an organist and director of a men’s choir at St. Pius X.

Was had a taste for traveling and went to Poland six times to visit relatives. She went on a nine-country European camping trip, where she had to set up a tent — something she said she’d never done before. She also studied painting in Portugal and saw Fatima.

She speaks conversational Polish and Spanish.

A lifelong member of St. Stanislaus Church in Youngstown, Was characterizes herself as a woman of faith. She said prays three times per day.

RETROSPECTIVE

Was’ husband passed away 22 years ago. Two of her four daughters are alive — and still talking to her, she joked. Was’ younger sister, Fran, is 93.

Was has six living grandchildren and 12 great-grandchildren. There are no great-great grandchildren yet, but Was is hopeful that some will be on the way in the next few years.

Almost every member of Was’ family has at least one of her paintings and its remnant.

Was said she owes her longevity to good genes and a relatively healthy life, though she is a cancer survivor. She said she is grateful she and “Thad” saved money diligently when they were younger, because she has been able to enjoy her golden years and help her great-grandchildren in college with expenses.

Now that she’s reached the big 1-0-0, Was said she has at least as many paintings — more than enough for another retrospective show. She said she wishes everyone could live 100 years so they could have all the experiences she has had.

“Sometimes if it wasn’t written down, I really can’t believe that I have really done all those things and accomplished so much.”

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