90-year-old gets surprise birthday visit from family

NORTHWEST — Despite COVID-19, Elvira “Vi” Mae (Tibbetts) Sutherland was still able to be surprised for her 90th birthday by friends and family. She opened her front door to a socially distanced outdoor gathering, including flowers, balloons and a cake, all organized by a neighbor. Sutherland quickly realized that three masked people in the yard were family members who drove from Seattle and San Diego. She opened gifts and was able to chat. “She’s still counting the cards,” said Sutherland’s oldest son, Jerry Sutherland. “They counted like 200 comments on the Facebook page where this was posted on my account. She’s really struck by the response. Just totally surprised and honored. It was nice to see that take the place of not getting together.”