MANSFIELD – In the middle of a blizzard on Jan. 18, 1924, a tiny baby named Harriet was born.
She was her mother’s second child, delivered by a midwife in the Mansfield neighborhood of Roseland. The doctor prepared Harriet’s mother to have plenty of baby clothes on hand – she had no idea she’d need double the amount.
Unbeknownst to her mother, 45 minutes after Harriet was born, another baby came along. Her mother was so shocked, she hadn’t even picked a name for her second baby. Eventually, she chose the name Marjorie.
So in the middle of a blizzard in January 1924, two three-pound twin girls were carried on pillows, wrapped in diapers and placed to sleep in a dresser drawer. The doctor never did make it in time.
Today, these twin babies – Harriet Shellhass and Marjorie Smotherman – are 93 years old, living in Mansfield’s Primrose Retirement Community at 1301 Millsboro Road. True to form, Harriet came to Primrose first four years ago; Marjorie has been at Primrose for only a year.
“It’s nice to live together again,” Harriet said.
The sisters grew up in Roseland, off of Springmill Road, and graduated in the January class of Mansfield Senior High School in 1942. They recall working odd jobs while in school, Marjorie helping in the school office, while Harriet worked at a nearby restaurant, and both selling refreshments in the stands at high school football games.
There were two other sets of twins in Marjorie and Harriet’s class: the Cox twins and the Piper twins, who were always dressed alike. But Marjorie and Harriet never cared about dressing alike; their father was killed in an auto accident when they were very young, and their mother never had the money to buy identical clothing.
“One or two mothers called my mother wondering why we weren’t dressed alike all the time, and mother said she couldn’t afford it,” Harriet recalled. “So they gave us their hand-me-downs because we were smaller than they were, so that we could dress alike, too.”
Typical of many sets of twins, many people had trouble telling the sisters apart – a problem that persists to this day at Primrose. But their mischievous antics didn’t help matters, either.
“We took our graduation pictures around and asked people which was which, and they couldn’t tell,” Harriet said. “But I took two of my own pictures, and she took two of hers. Naturally they couldn’t tell because they were both me.”
Shortly after graduation, Harriet met and started dating Jack Shellhass, but their romance was put on hold as Jack went off to fight in World War II. He wrote a marriage proposal to Harriet in a letter from overseas, and she accepted, but their marriage was delayed once again when he returned from the war.
“My grandparents did not want my father to be married until he finished college,” explained Jan Gross, one of Harriet and Jack’s four children. “So to honor them, he came back and went through Ohio State for three and a half years to get his degree.”
Jack graduated from The Ohio State University on Dec. 17, 1948. He and Harriet were married two days later – again, in a snowstorm.
“We went to North Lake Park for our reception, and people wanted to follow us out but we had someone arranged to meet us there and take us to our place to change clothes and leave for Detroit,” Harriet said.
Meanwhile, Marjorie began her career as her sister was getting married. She held a number of positions at now-legendary Mansfield institutions, including Ideal Electric, Westinghouse, Ohio Brass and the Ohio State Reformatory.
“She had a boyfriend and got married, and I was single,” said Marjorie, who never did marry or have children.
Harriet rejoined the workforce once her youngest children were in high school, and joined her sister working at Ideal Electric and Ohio Brass. At the Ohio State Reformatory, which was still an active prison at the time in 1965, Harriet worked with incoming inmates while Marjorie worked in bookkeeping.
“The inmates were really good to her,” Harriet recalled.
Harriet and Marjorie officially retired in 1967 and 1969, respectively, but still led active lives and continue to today. They visit North Liberty Baptist Church in Lexington every Tuesday to tear up sheets to repurpose as bandages and send to Africa, and save used postage stamps to provide Christian literature to children in South America.
“For 93 years old, they are very active,” said Marilyn Johnson, executive director at Primrose. “You’ll find them at our puzzle tables, church service on Sunday mornings, exercise three times a week in the wellness center, or Bible study on Sunday afternoons. They’re living proof of how seniors in a retirement community can contribute to not only our community here, but worldwide.”
After almost a century of life together, Harriet and Marjorie still remain close, even wearing matching clothes as seniors. When they lived apart, they would still call each other every night.
“She’s always known as the soft one, and I was the hardhead,” Harriet said of Marjorie. “I was stubborn, I guess. She’s not too stubborn.”
“She looks after me,” Marjorie said of her sister. “I don’t know how it would be not to be a twin.”
