100-year-old celebrates with Mah Jongg Club
It’s not every day a person celebrates their 100th birthday, but for Rose Graziosa it was no big deal, just another day and another year.
She attributes her longevity to “never having married,” but her friends in the Mah Jongg Club at Lake Kennedy Senior Center say it’s because she always has taken good care of her health and always wants to look her best. She does most everything for herself, laundry, etc.
Despite needing an assist from a three-wheeled walker to get around, she has no major health problems. She did reside in an assisted living facility in Connecticut for 10 years before her niece, Laura, retired to Cape Coral four years ago where Rose now lives. Besides the social activities at the assisted living facility, she never needed the other services anyway.
Rose was born Jan. 1, 1914. She worked for Prudential Insurance for 35 years before retiring from her office manager position at 55. She also taught typing to high school students in night school. The last of five siblings, Rose was a primary caregiver for her mother, who lived to age 98.
She loved to travel and visited many countries. She recounts one trip she made to Europe on the Queen Elizabeth and returned home on the SS Andrea Doria.
“The Andrea Doria sank the very next year (1956), so I was glad it wasn’t my trip,” she said.
She has played Mah Jongg for many years, but now Rose plays the tile game with the 40 or so members of the weekly club at Kennedy Senior Center. She also enjoys passing the time playing bridge, Scrabble and word search puzzles.
Club members signed birthday cards and shared cake and coffee with Rose on Friday.
One club member said, “We had a party for her last year when she was 99. At that time I didn’t think she would reach 100, but now I think she will get to 110.”