A centenarian is a person who has reached the age of 100. It is interesting to note that, of the 64,000 centenarians reportedly living in the United States, some 50,000 are women, according to the World Population Review. I recently had the opportunity to interview a grand lady who was born in 1919. This extraordinary woman has led a truly remarkable life. In the year of her birth alone, a whirlwind of events shaped the world and left some indelible marks on history. Five highlights from 1919:
- The Treaty of Versailles ended World War I, redrawing borders and setting the stage for future conflicts; the League of Nations was established by Part I of the Treat of Versailles.
- In the United States, the Volstead Act was signed, ushering in Prohibition, which banned alcohol and sparked a decade of speakeasies and bootlegging.
- The 19th Amendment, granting women the right to vote, was passed by Congress in 1919.
- Jeannette Rankin, a noted women’s rights advocate, served as the first woman in the U.S. Congress, representing the state of Montana.
- Meanwhile, the Spanish Flu pandemic continued its deadly spread.
Fifty-four years ago, the subject of this interview was widowed at the age of 52 and had to start over.
A child of the Great Depression, she has seen 20 presidents in the White House: from Woodrow Wilson, Warren G. Harding, Calvin Coolidge, and Herbert Hoover to FDR, Harry Truman, “Ike,” JFK, and Barack Obama in the modern era. And, consider the technological revolution through which this curious lady has lived. To us now, many of these inventions seem low-tech. But at the time of their development, they were the latest and greatest gadgets!
My head spins when I think about all that this 106-year-old has witnessed. It is amazing! I imagine her ears enjoying all the glorious music genres she’s been exposed to over her 10-plus decades: the “Big Bands” of the World War II era, those old 78-rpm vinyl discs and 33 1/3 record albums, and 45 singles (with their flip sides). Then came reel-to-reel tape recorders, 8-track and cassette tapes, followed by compact discs.
She read telegrams and listened in on party-line telephone conversations. Answering machines, “bag” and cell phones, flip phones, and voicemail were all new once upon a time. The jet engine spawned the commercial aviation industry. There were typewriters and the booming plastics industry in the 1950s. It was the advent of radio and television (black-and-white at first, with no remote controls!), then VHS cassettes played in VCR and DVD machines for digitized video. Copy machines had burst onto the scene along with the first circuit boards for computers. (What, pray tell, are those?!)
She told me that she learned how to drive a car in her 30s and drove until she was 92. (Steel-belted radial tires had been invented by then, so not so many flats!) The list of progress goes on and on: personal computers, laptops, the internet, iPhones, social media and, now, so-called artificial intelligence (AI)!
Life 2.0
Her husband died and left her a widow at the relatively young age of 52, at a time when her children were maturing and beginning to pursue their own dreams. So, this courageous soul struck out on her own in the mid-1970s, which is when her “second life” commenced. Keep in mind that, fifty-five years ago, a 55-year-old woman was considered “old,” but she was quite independent; she even had her own apartment. She enjoyed music, ballroom dancing, and singing. She made new friends and, eventually, began dating.
Her adult daughters say they looked up to their mother as an ideal role model. At a time when most women were conditioned to be content getting married and becoming homemakers, she taught them the importance of independence and chasing their passions.
In the workplace, she admits that she wasn’t what you’d call “hiring material,” with no tangible business or technology skills. Her people skills were strong, though, and she presented well. Women who wanted to work (or had to) were not always treated respectfully back then, and just getting an appointment to see “the boss” proved difficult.
She found a job as a receptionist answering phones and did alterations for a department store (only because she was willing to work the night shift). She also worked at a bank but made a mistake and got fired over the error. “Even a dog gets a second chance,” the feisty, now ex-employee told the manager before exiting.
Many extraordinary women have come before us, most of whom have not reached 106, like Sarah Cammarata, the subject of this interview. Their experience is priceless. It’s one of the greatest joys of my life to have Sarah, my mother, who resides near Boston with CJ’s Aunt Roseann, by my side my entire life. I am so fortunate to have her, at 106 years young, still inspiring me!
