Kathryn Valdes
Aging
Gracefully
in the
Brett Dault
Ever wonder what it’s like to be alive for more than a
century? Longtime local Kathryn Valdes Ilgenfritz doesn’t
think it’s any different at all, as she gracefully turned an
amazing 102 this past March 23rd.
Born in 1916, Kathryn Valdes, née Pipkin, grew up in the
Winter Park & Orlando area. She was an avid swimmer
in her youth which, while swimming in Lake Virginia
one afternoon, led her to a chance meeting with a Rollins
College student named Albert Valdez. The two became
quite the pair and married in 1932. The Pipkin-Valdes
union was the first wedding held in the newly-built
Knowles Memorial Chapel at Rollins College.
Albert and Kathryn moved to Winter Garden to be nearer
to his teaching position at Lakeview High School (now
Lakeview Middle). Kathryn went back to school at the age
of 20 and graduated from Lakeview HS in 1937. Albert
and his brother, Joe, opened the Winter Garden Press
which later grew to become Valbro Business Forms, a
state-of-the-art printing company. Valbro was a major
player in Winter Garden, employing hundreds of people
over it’s 65 years in business. For many years, Kathryn was
a typesetter and proofreader there, as well as managing
the front office.
While Albert was serving in the US Army Signal Corps
during World War II, Kathryn took residence at the
Edgewater Hotel along with other war wives whose
spouses were called to duty.
This centenarian (+2!) also has quite the artistic side.
Kathryn creates art in many mediums - from sketches to
pastels, oils to hand-painted China. She even participated
in the very first Winter Park Sidewalk Art Festival in Kathryn enjoying her 100th birthday at SoBo Gallery with
son, Bert Valdes and daughter-in-law, Sabrina Etheridge.
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WINTER GARDEN MAGAZINE
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MAY 2018