Birthday 105 and Counting

NORTH CAPE MAY – Born on July 10, 1910, Rosa Feketics listened intently with clear eyes and a winning smile as Lower Township Mayor Michael Beck read a proclamation honoring Feketics on the occasion of her 105th birthday July 10.
In the cafeteria at her Victoria Manor home here that was filled with her fellow residents, Feketics charmed everyone around her and seemed to especially enjoy all the extra attention as she smiled and pointed to people she knew at the party being held in her honor.
As a young girl, Feketics worked at the Apex Hosiery Co. at Fifth and Luzerne in Philadelphia while attending night school in the years following World War I.
She learned to sew at the Apex factory and learned so well that she made all her own clothes, including her wedding dress that she wore when she married John Feketics who fought in the Pacific theater as a soldier during World War II.
The Feketics moved to Beverly, N.J. in 1954 and she worked at the A & P food store as a cashier for 20 years. The couple never had children, but traveled as much as they could and they would often take Sunday drives to the Jersey shore.
Although John passed in 1991, Rosa kept going. She moved to Wildwood in 2005 where she lived by herself in a small apartment. She loved to cook and sew, and she boasts a prize recipe for sticky buns among her culinary accomplishments.
After living an independent and healthy lifestyle for 99 years, Rosa finally decided to move into Victoria Commons in 2009.
She subsequently moved to Victoria Manor in the same complex. According to the Victoria Manor newsletter, “Rosa’s hair is very important to her, and she even had her very own special hairdresser who took care of her for years.”
She doesn’t talk a lot about her secret to longevity, but she has never taken medications, even when prescribed, and has never smoked or drank alcohol in her more than one century of life.
Beck noted “I’ll be here next year, (for her birthday), I have no doubt” as he commented on Feketics’ vitality and engagement with everyone at her party.
Her niece Barbara Feketics, her nephew’s wife Jean Feketics and her great, great nephew 10-year-old Emerich joined in the celebration as the cake was cut and shared by all.
“She’s amazing” was the way her family described Feketics; and no one who spends any time with her at all could ever argue with that.
To contact Jim McCarty, email jmccarty@cmcherald.com.