Correspondent photo / Sean Barron Jennifer L. Baun, Northeast Ohio Women Veterans Unit 21’s vice president, presents a cupcake-style cake to Nora E. Patella of Boardman, a World War II veteran and who was the subject of a surprise 100th birthday celebration Saturday at the Canfield Fair.

CANFIELD — Nora E. Patella fondly recalled that one day when she was 14, she won a horse show in her native England.

“I remember being so proud that I was a country girl with nothing to show, but that I could win something,” Patella, of Boardman, said.

The memory of having taken home a certificate from the horse show when she was a teenager in her native England has stuck with Patella a lot of years — 86 of them, to be precise.

Eighty-six also was the number of years after her day of victory at the show that Patella, a World War II veteran, found herself being the winning guest of honor for a surprise 100th birthday celebration Saturday at the 179th annual Canfield Fair next to a tent at which she volunteers each year. Her birthday was Sunday.

“This is wonderful; I never expected something like this. I can’t get over it,” the new centenarian said about the gathering that included numerous veterans and others who came to honor her.

Also among the celebrants was her younger brother, Peter Francis, who still lives in England.

Patella, the oldest of seven siblings from Essex, England, volunteered to serve in the Auxiliary Territorial Service (later, part of the Women Royal Army Corps). During the war, the ATS was the women’s branch of the British Army before it merged into the Women’s Royal Army Corps in early 1949.

In 1940 at age 16, Patella enlisted, then was assigned to drive a lorry (a large motor vehicle for transporting goods) in Essex. As an early volunteer, she received neither specific training for her duties nor a uniform, as she often was in charge of moving supplies and materials, as well as the bodies of those who were wounded or killed in action.

In addition, Patella served in London for several months when that city and other population and industrial areas of England were targeted during the Blitz, which was an eight-month heavy Nazi Germany bombing campaign from Sept. 7, 1940, to May 1941. An estimated 43,500 civilians were killed.

For her part, Patella was among the women who also tended to the wounded as a first responder. In addition, she cared for children who had become orphaned or left in the streets during the war.

Patella came to America in 1946 with her husband, a U.S. soldier whom she had married during her enlistment, with little more than her infant daughter and a suitcase.

Years later, however, the Northeast Ohio Women Veterans Unit 21 of Military Women Across the Nation awarded Patella with the 1939-1945 Star, the Defense Medal and, most recently, the War Medal 1939-1945. Before she left her native country, Patella had never formally been issued any medals or citations for her service.

During the surprise gathering, Jennifer L. Baun, Unit 21’s vice president, noted that Patella remains an active member of the organization who attends many luncheons and numerous other veteran-related events. That includes being at the Canfield Fair’s Northeast Ohio Women’s Veterans tent, Baun said, adding that Patella’s patriotism for the U.S. is as strong as what she feels for her homeland.

“She’s feisty, she’s amazing and she’s very humble,” Sandy Conley, a fellow Unit 21 member who served four years in the U.S. Air Force, said about Patella.

Also at Saturday’s gathering for the new centenarian was Viki Stoops, community liaison for Home Instead, a home health care agency that provides a wide array of services for veterans.

“We help them stay independent in their homes for as long as possible,” Stoops said.

One of those offerings is a homemaker and health aid program that provides paid caregivers to assist veterans who need help with bathing, dressing, meal preparation and other activities of daily living, she explained.

Home Instead also provides a Veterans Affairs Aid & Attendance pension benefit program, which is an additional monthly pension that helps cover in-home care, assisted-living or nursing home expenses for eligible veterans and their surviving spouses.

Despite such services, agencies such as Home Instead often face the challenge of reaching out to veterans who may not trust having strangers in their homes, are unaware of programs for which they’re eligible or may not know how to access what is in place for them, Stoops noted. It’s important for those who served the nation to know that seeking help to which they’re entitled has the added benefit of encouraging other veterans to follow suit, she continued.

Stoops, however, had a more personal reason for being part of Patella’s special day.

“I’m here to celebrate and provide support to our veterans here — and to let them know they’re not alone,” she said.

Also during the celebratory occasion, Tammy Puff, director of military and veteran relations under Gov. Mike DeWine, presented Patella with a proclamation for her service.