Carrie Ida (Frey) Stewart landed a job in the Vale Chemical Company’s Allentown office soon after she graduated from business school.

But Carrie, who turned 100 on Friday, knew she wouldn’t be there long. World War II was raging, and she had her sights set on joining the Navy.

“I thought I was going to see the world. I thought I’d be going overseas,” said Carrie, of Mahoning Township. “And guess where I landed? Philadelphia.”

She smiles when she thinks how her assignment didn’t measure up to her expectations of globe trotting.

“I was the U.S. Customs house,” said Carrie, who earned the rank of yeomen second class. “I was locked in a room.”

From that space, she communicated with Navy ships by telephone, teletype or Morse code.

Shifts were long, she said, but she enjoyed the work. She also enjoyed spending time with other service personnel.

“There were always parties,” she said.

Carrie recalled how she and roommates would sneak out of their rented quarters when their landlady was asleep.

She was often the instigator.

“You wouldn’t believe some of the stuff I pulled. We had a nasty landlord. We moved out when she was asleep. We were naughty,” she laughed. “We would rent a car and off we went.”

She met her husband, the late Robert S. Stewart, in Philadelphia. Stewart was one of 45 people who survived an Oct. 31, 1941, German torpedo attack on the USS Reuben James. He was on a two-week survivor leave when war was declared Dec. 7, 1941.

He later was assigned to the USS San Diego and spent a total 48 months at sea. He participated in most major battles.

“She said she didn’t like him at first because he was too cocky,” said their son, Robert Stewart II. The elder Stewart was from West Virginia and had a “wheeler-dealer” nature to him, his son said.

The couple was married on Sept. 29, 1945, less than a month after the war ended.

Early life

Carrie Stewart was born at home in New Mahoning village on Aug. 19, 1922. Her parents, Charles and Mary Frey, had 10 boys and two girls.

Charles was a farmer and did side work as a carpenter. Mary was a homemaker.

“My mom was like me. She liked to play cards,” Carrie said.

She attended the one-room New Mahoning School, about a mile away from her home.

“We would have to walk over the hill in snow this high,” she said, extending her arm to above her waist.

She graduated from Lehighton High School in 1939, then earned a business degree from Allentown Business College.

She completed courses in a year.

“I was so smart,” Carrie said.

After serving 2½ years with the Navy, she worked as a credit manager for Sears and Roebuck in Lehighton, and later took a job with Sears in Philadelphia.

The family moved back to the area and Stewart worked for Air Products and Chemicals in Hometown and Trexlertown. She also was an antique dealer.

Robert Jr. said his parents never stressed about anything, which might be a key to his mother’s longevity.

“She sees Dr. Krause in Tamaqua and he says, ‘What are you doing here? There’s nothing wrong with you,’?” Robert Jr. said.

“And I say, ‘Well you told me to come in,’?” Carrie said.

One of her fondest memories, she said, was a two-month trip around the United States.

“We bought a van for $50. You should have seen it,” she said. “Everybody wanted to see the thing.”

Her husband outfitted the van with an overhead window and toilet, and the couple and their dog, Prince, visited friends in California, Texas and elsewhere.

“We just went around with no money,” she said.

When she’s not playing pinochle with friends, or meeting fellow Air Products retirees for lunch, Carrie enjoys watching the stock market and keeping up with the world from her Mahoning Township home.