FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT www.queenscourier.com JUNE 26, 2014 • THE QUEENS COURIER 9 When Only The Best Will Do! Always Competitively Priced. BAY TERRACE SHOPPING CENTER | 211-19 26TH AVENUE | BAYSIDE, NY 11360 718.224.0075 OR (877) ALICIAS | WWW.ALICIASJEWELERS.COM CLOTHING &TEXTILES at GREENMARKET Weekly collections at more than 35 Greenmarkets citywide, including Jackson Heights, Forest Hills and Sunnyside. We accept clean and dry textiles like clothing, paired shoes, coats, linens, scarves, hats, bags and belts. Materials will be sorted for reuse or recycling. www.GrowNYC.org/clothing 212.788.7964 GrowNYC’s Office of Recycling Outreach and Education is a NYC Department of Sanitation funded program JAMAICA NURSING HOME CELEBRATES MORE THAN A DOZEN CENTENNIAL RESIDENTS BY ERIC JANKIEWICZ @ericjankiewicz [email protected] This week, the Chapin Home for the Aging will have more than a dozen residents who are a century or more old. The Jamaica nursing home, which started out as a women’s home in the 19th and much of the 20th century, can hold up to 220 elders. On Tuesday, one of the residents turns 100, giving the nursing home 13 residents who are at least 100. Many of them have some degree of dementia, according to Ferrara, but for the most part they are very lucid for people who have lived for so long. “In all my years of working at nursing homes I’ve never seen anything like this,” said Kathleen Ferrara, the recreational director of Chapin Home. “They’re so unique and such a special group.” Ferrara is in charge of making sure that the residents stay active and keep busy with various recreational activities. The centennials occupy themselves in a variety of ways from playing bingo to playing bowling on the Wii. Mildred Gent is the oldest of the centennial cohort and in October she will be 107. Gent has lived in the nursing home since 2010 and lived in Greenwich Village where she worked as a clerk during the 1920s and 30s and into WWII. Gent doesn’t pay much attention to the modern world and when asked about the Internet she said, “It’s a lot of bunk.” The youngest to join the group of ultra-elders is Mary Nuccio, who turns 100 on June 24. Born in 1914, Nuccio has witnessed three generations of her family develop. Her greatgrandchild starts college in the fall. “This is pretty rare in my family,” she said about her age. “I’m going to be 100. Everything is broken but not my mind.” During WWII, Nuccio and her husband James, who is now deceased, left their Astoria home to live in the Nebraskan city of Omaha, where James served as an MP at an Italian prison war camp. In her spare time, Nuccio likes to play bowling on the Wii. Her bowling partner and fellow resident Carol Martin complained that Nuccio is very good at the game. “I’m very determined,” Nuccio said. “I don’t like to be dependent on anybody. I’m very independent.” As Nuccio played on a game console that is less than a decade old, resident Jimmy Key sat outside enjoying the warm weather. In a very heavy southern accent — reminiscent of blues singers like Lead Belly — that Ferrara said most people can’t understand — Key said he was from Nashville, Tenn. “I’m a country boy,” Key said. “I’m over 100 years old. I’m so old, I don’t remember how THE COURIER/ Photo by Eric Jankiewicz old I am.” Mary Nuccio is turning 100 this summer.
QC06262014
To see the actual publication please follow the link above