Marion L. Ahles, 107, believed to be Erie County’s oldest resident

Sept. 13, 1916 — Feb. 7, 2024

Marion Ahles, believed to be the oldest resident of Erie County, declared when she was 104 that she took no prescription medications.

The secret to her longevity, she told Buffalo News Refresh editor Scott Scanlon in 2021, included exercising with light weights, walking, keeping up with current events and eating right – fruits, vegetables and lean protein.

She also mixed herself a hot cup of a concoction containing one teaspoon of cider vinegar and one tablespoon of raw honey and drank it every morning.

For more than 20 years, she was one of the 160,000 women nationwide who volunteered for the Women’s Health Initiative, a federal study on healthy aging conducted locally through the University at Buffalo, which stepped up her desire to lead a healthy life.

She survived the Spanish flu as a toddler and Covid-19 last fall. She had polio as a young adult and hepatitis during her first pregnancy.

Known to all for her constantly cheerful outlook and her beaming smile, she continued to drive a car into her 90s and, at 99, went to South Africa for a granddaughter’s wedding, a trip that included a three-day safari.

She died Feb. 7 at the home of her daughter Donna Schweikert and son-in-law Calvin Luther on a farm outside Springville, where she had lived since suffering a fall four years ago. She was 107.

Born in New England, Marion L. Guenther came to Buffalo with her father after her parents separated and was orphaned at age 2 when he died in an elevator accident in a downtown office building.

Norman and Genevieve Guenther, who owned a farm in Ashford, 15 miles south of Springville, adopted her from a Buffalo orphanage. She attended Ashford No. 13, a one-room elementary school.

To attend high school at Griffith Institute in Springville, she and neighboring classmates walked 4 miles each way, crossing Zoar Valley. An honor student, she drafted a blueprint design that the Village of Springville used to…