A local family held a surprise party recently at the Palace Restaurant for a seminal event – triplet sisters born and raised locally were treated to a party for their shared 80th birthday.

Janice Weninger, Carolyn DelGrosso and Marilyn Harbon were born at St. Luke’s Hospital, Fountain Hill on Oct. 16, 1945, blocks away from the Elliott family home on BishopThorpe Street. The three graduated from Liberty HS in 1963 behind an older brother Don and sister Elaine.

Weninger’s daughter Jandee Weninger told the Press her mother worked at Bethlehem Steel and then moved to Okinawa to be with her husband John when he was stationed there during the Vietnam War. She later worked at Met-Ed (First Energy) and opened a martial arts supply store while he ran Pai Lum Kung Fu schools.

DelGrosso worked at Guardian Life Insurance Company until she retired. She has two sons, John and Micheal DelGrosso. She’s been a grandparent to Angie, Trey and Tessa and a great-grandparent to Angie’s son Shea Stein. She lives in Bethlehem with her husband Tom DelGrosso.

Harbon lives in Center Valley and worked as a receptionist in a local dentist’s office and is a proud mom of Dennis Harbon and Theresa Pasquale, proud grandparent to Samuel, Gianna and Maria Pasquale and Ellie Harbon. Her husband Dennis passed away in 2017.

The three have been gathering with the entire family for most major holidays, Jandee Weninger said. “We cousins are quite close and very much appreciate the traditions they’ve worked hard to keep alive.”