Retired First Responder Turns 98

On her 98th birthday, retired nurse Agnes Farrar offered her best advice for living a better life: ​“Be good to yourself and be good to others.”

Around 2 p.m. on Friday, Farrar sat outside of her apartment at the Davenport Dunbar Residence with her close friend Mamie Darden, who had arranged a drive-by celebration in her honor.

“I had originally been planning a surprise birthday luncheon,” Darden said. ​“It would have been complete with salad sandwiches on croissants and a cake I would have decorated myself.”

When it became clear that the virus was not going to be gone by May, Darden decided to get creative.

She reached out to Mayor Curt Leng, who sent three police cars over to congratulate and thank the retired first responder.

After a few minutes of honking and cheering, the cars’s drivers pulled away, leaving the two women alone again on the sidewalk.

Darden admitted that she wished more people had shown up in support, but that those closest to Farrar, like her immediate family, are self-isolating in other states and countries.

Farrar and her late husband, a Navy veteran, had one son together named Charles, who now lives in Florence, South Carolina. His three daughters, Jocelyn, Liza, and Gale, are located in Italy, New York, and Texas, respectively.

Now that she has retired, regular phone calls with her son as well as virtual conversations with her grandkids and friends are the highlights of Farrar’s weeks.

She laughed when sharing a question Jocelyn asked her through the phone just that morning: ​“Grandma, how’d you get to be so old?”

Farrar did not directly answer the question. She did recall all the things she loved doing when she was younger: going to school, traveling, nursing, parenting, and dining out.

Although she did not plan to go out for a birthday dinner, she revealed her plans to get Surf and Turf takeout from Outback Steakhouse later in the day.

As Darden pointed out, ​“Turning 98 deserves a celebration!”

Darden then pointed to her shirt, where a caduceus medical insignia pin held a heart cut from floral gift wrap paper to her chest.

“To thank the first responders,” she said behind both a mask and face shield.

Darden herself was a registered nurse at Grace New Haven Hospital, where she met Farrar, a licensed nurse practitioner.

Both women worked as nurses for over 30 years before retiring and moving to the Dunbar Davenport Residence.

Darden proposed a short summary of their full lives: ​“We’re longtime warriors.”