FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Mayor Jim Kenney hosts and honors the City’s Centenarians at 19th annual celebration
More than 120 seniors, at least 100 years old, were recognized for longevity and accomplishments.
(PHILADELPHIA) Wednesday, May 29, 2019 – Former cab driver Jack Barbash, a Northeast Philly drove visiting major-leaguers Jackie Robinson, Hank Aaron and Ted Williams to Connie Mack Stadium in the 1950s. Benjamin Franklin Jones III, a 40-year BFGoodrich Aerospace employee, helped develop the nation’s first space suit for NASA used on the Mercury and Apollo missions. Webster Powell, of Southwest Philly, who turned 100 this month, has been married 68 years.
Former City employee, Norman Goren, who lives in the Fairmount section and will be 100 in December, is dating a 67-year-old woman whom he met at computer-training class. South Philly’s Charles Leuzzi who will be 100 in December, earned two Purple Hearts serving in WWII; his neighbor Anna Melone, born in Rome, makes a mean Italian corsttada strawberry tort. Lt. Colonel Jerry Vallery has 18 military commendations and was named the African American Chamber of Commerce’s Man of the Year.
These exceptional seniors are just a few of the seemingly ageless active Centenarians who are at least 100 years old and have over the years weaved the mosaic of Philadelphia’s grand and glorious history.
To celebrate their lives, longevity and legacies, Mayor Jim Kenney today hosted the 19th Annual Mayor’s Centenarians’ Celebration, a luncheon paying tribute to Philadelphia’s oldest seniors. The event took place at the SugarHouse Casino in the city’s Fishtown section.
The celebration has become a City tradition. Mayor Kenney recognized the contributions of more than 454 centenarians in Philadelphia — home of one of the nation’s largest centenarian populations. Nearly 176 known seniors will turn 100 in Philadelphia this year, according to the regional office of the Social Security Administration. More than 120 Philadelphia centenarians, among the largest in the event’s history, attended this gala — along with proud family, friends, neighbors and caretakers.
The event is designed to celebrate the accomplishments of Philadelphia’s centenarians, or those soon-to-be centenarians who will be 100 in 2019. This year’s theme is “Fortune Smiles on Centenarians.” Philadelphia residents were required to be 100 years old this year, based on Social Security Administration records, to be officially invited to the luncheon.
“There are very few centenarian events of this magnitude, in which a city recognizes the achievements and longevity of its residents,” said Mayor Kenney. “We are honored to have the opportunity to celebrate this distinguished group. These remarkable Philadelphia residents are all living links from our past to our present, with amazing stories to tell. They have worked and raised families in Philadelphia, witnessing firsthand the city’s growth and change over a century.”
Mayor Kenney presented remarks, praising the centenarians for their time-honored wisdom and longevity in the “19th Annual Celebration Day in Philadelphia,” as part of a national observance of Older Americans Month in May.
The mayor also posed behind a table displaying a huge centenarian cake and dished out the first slices to the event’s oldest male and female centenarians in attendance, Russell Harvey, a 103-year-old Second World War veteran, as well as Ruth Hopson, who will turn 107 in November — the oldest female centenarian and person overall at the event
Ruth Hopson is a lifelong Philadelphia living in Wynnefield Heights. Hopson has four girls, was a homemaker, loves sports and remembers horse-driven carriages on the streets of Philly. Her uncle was a Philadelphia firefighter. She has attended the City’s annual Centenarian luncheon four times. Hopson also was the event’s oldest Philadelphia-born centenarian resident attending the luncheon. She was born in 1912 when the average life expectancy for women was 51.8 years and Republican Rudolph Blankenburg was Mayor of Philadelphia.
Harvey, of the city’s Germantown section, is a retired highway toll collector, who is a dapper dresser and mows his own lawn. He will turn 104 in October. He loves baseball, is a history buff and was married 70 years to Vivian who died last year. He still drives and lives in his own home. He is keen of mind, has a sense of humor but is reserved. He likes going down to the Reading Terminal in Center City where he once worked, and to South Philly to get his Italian bread. The key to his longevity is drinking city tap or “spigot” water, he says. He has attended this event for the last 3 years.
Among those attending the luncheon, about half of the centenarians were born in Philadelphia. All of the seniors received individual photos of themselves with the Mayor as keepsakes to commemorate the occasion. Many wore their Sunday best for the occasion. Organizers called it “an event for the ages.” Many of the Philly-born residents had accomplished careers, while some of our diverse centenarians got their starts outside of the United States, and were born in territories and countries including Germany, Poland, Italy, Ukraine, the Soviet Union, Ukraine, Ireland and Poland.
For example, Port Richmond’s Catalina Rolon,104, was born in Puerto Rico and have enjoyed storied lives while raising families. Rolon has been a woman of many trades: A nurse, missionary, factory worker, political campaigner, teacher’s aide, social worker, homemaker, volunteer. She was born in 1915 in the small town of Aibonito. Politics were her passion; she worked with her mother on a political campaign resulting in the first Puerto Rican governor to be chosen in a free election — Luis Munoz Marin. She moved to Philadelphia in 1959 with her husband, Thomas, and seven children to start a small business
Many of the city’s oldest seniors are war veterans; some worked every day until into their late 90s; most are woman. Some were alive during the advent of automobiles, airplanes, refrigeration, television and computers
The secret to longevity, echoed many of the centenarians, is to eat heathy and in moderation, get plenty of sleep, no alcohol and tobacco, good genes and practice a religious faith.
The room was decorated with special nostalgic photos featuring Philadelphia’s past and present and participants brought photos of themselves from their youth. Some of the Centenarians and their guests danced to the sounds of 1920s-30s music
The celebration has enjoyed may highlights over the years including hosting West Philly’s Anna Henderson, the world’s third oldest woman at age 115, in 2015, and biological Centenarian sisters – (again) Henderson back in 2008 (then 108) and her kid sister, Lillian McClammy, at age 100.
Joining the Mayor and participating in the celebration were speakers: City Representative Sheila Hess (the program emcee); Lydia Hernandez Velez, Deputy Managing Director for Aging/Mayor’s Commission on Aging; Louis Colbert, Vice President of Operations of the Philadelphia Corporation for the Aging, and Daniel O’Connor, Regional Communications Director, Social Security Administration/Philadelphia Region; The Rev. Jay B. Broadnax, President, Black Clergy of Philadelphia and Vicinity / Pastor at Mount Pisgah AME Church in West Philadelphia. The Blackbird Society Orchestra conducted by Richard Barnes and The Treasured Dancers performed for the seniors. Mayor Kenney and City Representative Hess presented Lydia Hernandez, who has been a speaker at the luncheon for many years, with a bouquet to mark her upcoming retirement.
“Our precious centenarians have been a vital part of our vibrant neighborhoods, many for more than a century,” said City Representative Hess. “Each year, they surprise and amaze us with their stories, wisdom and zest for life. It is a privilege to celebrate them and recognize their lifetime of achievements.”
Added Daniel O’Connor, of the Social Security Administration: “Many individuals turning 100 this year started their first job the year that the Social Security Act was signed into law.”
The world’s oldest verified living person currently is a female, Kane Tanaka, of Fukuoka, a city southwest of Japan, aged 116 years, born in 1903. She was honored in March by the Guinness World Records.
Through the cooperation of the Regional Office of the Social Security Administration, invitations from Mayor Kenney were sent to Philadelphia’s centenarians. According to the Social Security Administration Philadelphia regional office, there are 3,797 Centenarians in Pennsylvania (1,705 fewer than in 2017). There are an estimated more than 70,000 Centenarians, mostly women, recorded in the U.S. today.
The Mayor’s Centenarian Celebration was established in May 2001 during national Older Americans Month. It was part of the City’s efforts to mark the anniversary of the completion of the historic century-old City Hall. The first Centenarian luncheon was held at City Hall with about 70 centenarians in attendance.
Photos of the event can be found here.
The Office of the City Representative (OCR) promotes Philadelphia by producing and supporting events throughout the city. It serves as an entry point and one-stop liaison for community and private organizations that wish to foster a relationship with the City and effectively host events in Philadelphia.