Meal Recipient Stories
Susie lived to be nearly 101 years old. What did she claim was her secret for living such a long life?
She joked, “I don’t know. The will of God. He wants to punish me!”
More seriously, she added, “I pray for my health and go on with my life. So far, so good.” Born November 14, 1908, Suzie grew up in New Haven, Connecticut where her father struggled to support his growing family. When she was five, he moved the family back to his childhood home in Naples, Italy. Life there was easier, but Suzie yearned to be back in America. Ten years later, Suzie returned to the United States and settled in New York.
Arriving one year after women gained the right to vote, Suzie saw both the potential and the hardship of life in America. As a teenager, she worked as a seamstress earning $5 a week. But even after the Fair Labor Standards Act passed into law in 1938, declaring everyone had to earn at least $11 per week, Suzie never saw the raise. She remembered, “I was a little one and got gypped. And my boss was a crook!”
At 23, she met her future husband, Anthony, who drove a garbage truck. “I didn’t want to go out with him because he was shorter than me in high heels. But I married him anyway. When you’re young, you’re crazy.” They survived the Great Depression and lived happily together until Anthony’s death in 1965.
Remembering their life together, Suzie said, “The older I get, the more I miss him.” Anthony couldn’t have children, but as a young woman, Suzie didn’t mind. She was never jealous of her sisters’ and brothers’ families. She enjoyed spending time with their children. But after Anthony passed, Suzie wished for children who could care for her, “I’m a very selfish girl, I guess.”
While she didn’t have children to take care of her, she could recently count on a weekly visit from her Citymeals-on-Wheels friendly visitor, Brooke Brestel. Whenever Brooke was with Suzie the two of them spent hours sharing stories, and Suzie was reminded that she had not been forgotten.
