This post was contributed by a community member. The views expressed here are the author's own.

Community Corner

Holmdel's Ruth Nelson Turns 100

Remembering a hard childhood as an orphan.

Ruth Nelson's 100th birthday began with a chorus of friends surprising her and singing "Happy Birthday" in the dayroom of their Bayshore Health Care & Rehabilitation Center residence on North Beers Street Thursday.

Then, with a wheelchair decorated with ballooons, she left with her granddaughter and namesake, Ruth Amato, to go to Perkins for breakfast,  because she wanted bacon, and bacon is not on Bayshore's menu, her granddaughter said.  

The celebration had begun over the weekend, with a family party at Yesterday's restaurant in Hazlet.

Find out what's happening in Holmdel-Hazletwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Nelson has three children, 14 grandchildren, 38 great grandchildren and 11 great great grandchildren -- with two more on the way.

"That's what always kept me going," she explained, "being around kids and watching the little ones moving and jumping around."

Find out what's happening in Holmdel-Hazletwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

"I am a survivor," she said.

On Thursday she celebrated her life: 100 years filled with tragedies and triumphs.

Born the youngest of 13 children in Brooklyn, both her parents had passed away before her sixth birthday. Nelson spent the next eight years in an orphanage until she went to live with an older brother and his family.

She was in nursing school when she met her husband, Harry.

"I quit the school because someone had their eye on my guy and I wasn't about to let that happen," she explains.

She had three children with Harry before his premature death from heart failure at age 53.  Her son passed away in 1997 from the same ailment. Nelson herself survived colon and breast cancer. 

A decade ago she moved to a senior apartment complex in Holmdel to be nearer to her daughters. Three years ago she moved to the Bayshore facility when her legs and eyes began giving her trouble, at age 97.

Nelson doesn't dwell on past events, and will put an optimistic spin on even her worst times, and perhaps that is what has always kept her going as well.

"My time in the orphanage, although I didn't like it right away, it was good because they kept me safe, taught me to cook, and sew," she said.

While she remembers and reflects on the past, she is happily and busily  immersed in the present.

She knits hats and donates them to children with cancer. She taught herself as a  young girl, after her sister gave her yarn and two lollipop sticks.

She enjoys hanging out with her three closest friends at Bayshore and participating in the facility's activities with them.

Her birthday plans included meeting her girlfriends  in the dining hall to share some muffins she brought back from her outing for their evening coffee.

"We've been partying all week," said Joan LaBruno, "because she brought back a basket of cookies from her party last weekend for us."

Nelson and two friends then  break into a happy rendition of "Let Me Call You Sweetheart" and her tiara that reads "100" glimmers on her head.

Turning 100, a triumph!

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

The views expressed in this post are the author's own. Want to post on Patch?