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After all these years: At 100, Podgurski enjoys life to the fullest

By Staff | Mar 25, 2015

MEL TOADVINE Mary Podgurski turned 100 three months ago.

Mary Podgurski says it is fun to be 100 years old plus three months. She lives in Fountain Crest in Lehigh and agreed to talk about her long life, one which she didn’t think she would ever live to see.

“When I go to my doctor, he always asks me what is it that I am doing to look so good and to be so healthy,” Podgurski said with a big smile

“I tell him like I do everyone else who asks me my secret for a long life, that I just eat good foods and keep my mind busy,” she said.

When she was a young girl, she said her family ate natural foods and by that she says she means food that didn’t contain all the ingredients added such as food preservatives, coloring and more.

“Today, that seems to be all you can find at the grocery story,” she said.

PHOTO SPECIAL TO THE CITIZEN Birthday party for Mary Podgurski brought 72 visitors to Bonita Beach. This photo just shows some of them who came from 11 states. Relatives and friends came.

But Podgurski enjoys the foods at Fountain Crest and eats only those things that she believes are healthy. She cooks her own breakfast and eats her noontime and supper meal downstairs in the large dining room at the complex.

She has lived at Fountain Crest for 10 years and says she loves it there. Her apartment is tidy, attractive, and comfortable “and just big enough for me and what I have,” she said.

But back to that “secret” for longevity “I remember when they brought milk to your door and we ate fresh food all the time. That is the way my mother cooked for the family,” she said.

At 100, she says she is proud, too, that she never smoked.

She is originally from New York City and moved out to Long Island when she was in her 30s.

MEL TOADVINE Daughter with 100-year-old mom: Mary Beal, right, stands along the side of her mother, Mary Podgurski, who celebrated her 100th birthday in December.

She enjoys living in Lehigh, she said, but like a lot of others noted the lack of shopping places in Lehigh.

“They kept the Bealls Outlet here and got rid of the regular Bealls and I didn’t like that,” she said. “We need more nice places to shop.”

Her daughter, Mary Beal of Estero, keeps in touch with her mother and visits often. She brings books to her mother because she loves to read and her daughter believes that is one of the reasons her mom’s mind is in such excellent shape.

“I do enjoy sitting back and relaxing and reading,” Podgurski said. “I would rather read than watch TV.”

However, she keeps up with the news in the world and especially the problems in the Ukraine because her mother and father came to the U.S. from that country that is being threatened by Russia.

Laughing, she said she is sure New York City and Long Island are nothing like they were when she lived there.

“We didn’t even have to lock our doors,” she remembered.

She also lived in New Jersey and over the years worked at a lot of positions, starting off, she said, with Macy’s in New York City.

Her actual birthday was Dec. 8 of last year when she turned 100. A special party held by her family brought at least 70 plus people from all over the United States. She met great great-grandchildren that she had never seen before.

Lots of photographs were taken and are proudly displayed in a photo album. Her daughter said there were so many relatives there that they had to pose her mother in several different shots with her kinsfolk.

She has five adult children and grandchildren and several great-great-grandchildren. Daughter Mary Beal is the closest one living nearby while another adult child also lives in Florida, but the rest live all over the country.

“I had a great family: three boys and two girls,” she said.

Mary Podgurski can fool anyone if you guess her age. She does not look like she is 100 and when you speak to her, she sounds like a woman half her age. She’s known by her friends at Fountain Crest for her beautiful smile, according to Theresa Cancel, the manager of the complex.

Cancel said they baked a cake for her on her 100th birthday. “We do that for anyone who has reached such an incredible age.”

Podgurski said on that day at Fountain Crest, there was a show with an Elvis Presley impersonator.

“He even sang Happy Birthday to me,” she laughed.

She calls her physician, Dr. Michael Tucker, one of the best and says he is always asking what she is doing to attain such an age.

It could be in the genes her father passed away when he was 86, and she said he had Diabetes. One of her grandfathers lived to be 98, but Mary Podgurski is planning to carry on and live each day as it comes.

The family party was at the Miramar Golf and Country Club with 72 people in attendance. She has seven great grandchildren and said she enjoyed being with all of them.

She also has a letter from President Obama and the First Lady wishing her a happy birthday. She enjoys looking at some of the old photos she has, and especially one showing her wedding party may years ago. In the corner of the photo is a young girl who was her flower girl. She now lives in Connecticut and she keeps up with her by phone and on Facebook. Her “little flower girl” is now 89 years old.

Mary Podgurski doesn’t let technology get in her way. She uses a cell phone and owns a computer type tablet and knows how to keep in touch with family and friends. She had a larger computer, but bought a tablet to replace it and likes it better because it is not so large and bulky.

She participates in many of the activities at Fountain Crest and enjoys playing Corn Hole. For those who don’t know what the game is, Podgurski says you throw an object at a long distance into what is called a “corn hole.” It could be a basket or other container with a hole in it.

“That’s good exercise for my arms,” they tell me.

She was even presented a trophy for her winning a Wii bowling tournament at the complex. That’s where patrons use their arms to swing about to move objects on a large TV screen.

“You can’t break anything,” she laughed, “because those things to fling about are attached to your wrist.”

She has not been playing the “Wii games” because she says it is about time to slow down a little.

So Podgurski takes one of her mysteries, sits back and reads a lot.

“I love them because I try to solve the mysteries before they are revealed in the book,” she said.

“Enjoying life is what it is all about and I still do,” she said, reflecting over the many years that she has experienced.

After all these years: At 100, Podgurski enjoys life to the fullest

By Staff | Mar 25, 2015

MEL TOADVINE Mary Podgurski turned 100 three months ago.

Mary Podgurski says it is fun to be 100 years old plus three months. She lives in Fountain Crest in Lehigh and agreed to talk about her long life, one which she didn’t think she would ever live to see.

“When I go to my doctor, he always asks me what is it that I am doing to look so good and to be so healthy,” Podgurski said with a big smile

“I tell him like I do everyone else who asks me my secret for a long life, that I just eat good foods and keep my mind busy,” she said.

When she was a young girl, she said her family ate natural foods and by that she says she means food that didn’t contain all the ingredients added such as food preservatives, coloring and more.

“Today, that seems to be all you can find at the grocery story,” she said.

PHOTO SPECIAL TO THE CITIZEN Birthday party for Mary Podgurski brought 72 visitors to Bonita Beach. This photo just shows some of them who came from 11 states. Relatives and friends came.

But Podgurski enjoys the foods at Fountain Crest and eats only those things that she believes are healthy. She cooks her own breakfast and eats her noontime and supper meal downstairs in the large dining room at the complex.

She has lived at Fountain Crest for 10 years and says she loves it there. Her apartment is tidy, attractive, and comfortable “and just big enough for me and what I have,” she said.

But back to that “secret” for longevity “I remember when they brought milk to your door and we ate fresh food all the time. That is the way my mother cooked for the family,” she said.

At 100, she says she is proud, too, that she never smoked.

She is originally from New York City and moved out to Long Island when she was in her 30s.

MEL TOADVINE Daughter with 100-year-old mom: Mary Beal, right, stands along the side of her mother, Mary Podgurski, who celebrated her 100th birthday in December.

She enjoys living in Lehigh, she said, but like a lot of others noted the lack of shopping places in Lehigh.

“They kept the Bealls Outlet here and got rid of the regular Bealls and I didn’t like that,” she said. “We need more nice places to shop.”

Her daughter, Mary Beal of Estero, keeps in touch with her mother and visits often. She brings books to her mother because she loves to read and her daughter believes that is one of the reasons her mom’s mind is in such excellent shape.

“I do enjoy sitting back and relaxing and reading,” Podgurski said. “I would rather read than watch TV.”

However, she keeps up with the news in the world and especially the problems in the Ukraine because her mother and father came to the U.S. from that country that is being threatened by Russia.

Laughing, she said she is sure New York City and Long Island are nothing like they were when she lived there.

“We didn’t even have to lock our doors,” she remembered.

She also lived in New Jersey and over the years worked at a lot of positions, starting off, she said, with Macy’s in New York City.

Her actual birthday was Dec. 8 of last year when she turned 100. A special party held by her family brought at least 70 plus people from all over the United States. She met great great-grandchildren that she had never seen before.

Lots of photographs were taken and are proudly displayed in a photo album. Her daughter said there were so many relatives there that they had to pose her mother in several different shots with her kinsfolk.

She has five adult children and grandchildren and several great-great-grandchildren. Daughter Mary Beal is the closest one living nearby while another adult child also lives in Florida, but the rest live all over the country.

“I had a great family: three boys and two girls,” she said.

Mary Podgurski can fool anyone if you guess her age. She does not look like she is 100 and when you speak to her, she sounds like a woman half her age. She’s known by her friends at Fountain Crest for her beautiful smile, according to Theresa Cancel, the manager of the complex.

Cancel said they baked a cake for her on her 100th birthday. “We do that for anyone who has reached such an incredible age.”

Podgurski said on that day at Fountain Crest, there was a show with an Elvis Presley impersonator.

“He even sang Happy Birthday to me,” she laughed.

She calls her physician, Dr. Michael Tucker, one of the best and says he is always asking what she is doing to attain such an age.

It could be in the genes her father passed away when he was 86, and she said he had Diabetes. One of her grandfathers lived to be 98, but Mary Podgurski is planning to carry on and live each day as it comes.

The family party was at the Miramar Golf and Country Club with 72 people in attendance. She has seven great grandchildren and said she enjoyed being with all of them.

She also has a letter from President Obama and the First Lady wishing her a happy birthday. She enjoys looking at some of the old photos she has, and especially one showing her wedding party may years ago. In the corner of the photo is a young girl who was her flower girl. She now lives in Connecticut and she keeps up with her by phone and on Facebook. Her “little flower girl” is now 89 years old.

Mary Podgurski doesn’t let technology get in her way. She uses a cell phone and owns a computer type tablet and knows how to keep in touch with family and friends. She had a larger computer, but bought a tablet to replace it and likes it better because it is not so large and bulky.

She participates in many of the activities at Fountain Crest and enjoys playing Corn Hole. For those who don’t know what the game is, Podgurski says you throw an object at a long distance into what is called a “corn hole.” It could be a basket or other container with a hole in it.

“That’s good exercise for my arms,” they tell me.

She was even presented a trophy for her winning a Wii bowling tournament at the complex. That’s where patrons use their arms to swing about to move objects on a large TV screen.

“You can’t break anything,” she laughed, “because those things to fling about are attached to your wrist.”

She has not been playing the “Wii games” because she says it is about time to slow down a little.

So Podgurski takes one of her mysteries, sits back and reads a lot.

“I love them because I try to solve the mysteries before they are revealed in the book,” she said.

“Enjoying life is what it is all about and I still do,” she said, reflecting over the many years that she has experienced.