DEL.ICIO.USMarietta woman turns 108 Thursday
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Wednesday, December 31, 2008
When the meek inherit the Earth, 108-year-old Gertrude Schwarz will be first in line — unless she’s playing bridge.
Schwarz celebrates her birthday Thursday, having been born in Carroll County on Jan. 1, 1901. She doesn’t think as much about being born on New Year’s Day and turning 108 as she does about her next bridge game.
“I never thought about living this long, I guess,” she said. “I really don’t think about it anymore. I just take it as it comes and enjoy being here and being so blessed.”
In her daily life, she allows the staff at Manorcare of Marietta to choose her outfits and fix her shoulder-length gray hair any way they want. “I usually like to go along with the people,” Schwarz said. “I don’t like to go against things.”
Her nephew, Ed Henning of Sandy Springs, said Schwarz always has been easygoing. “She’s very laid back and doesn’t make waves.”
“You know the saying the meek will inherit the Earth? Well, she’s the meek,” he said.
When it comes to bridge, she’s not so meek. At 1 p.m. every Wednesday, she wheels her chair to the bridge table ready to defeat opponents Bill Borella, 95, of Roswell and her Manorcare neighbor Ikie Gwin, 95.
Schwarz is intolerant of interruptions during her bridge game, which lasts till 4:15 p.m., and she doesn’t shy away from a bidding war.
“She is very competitive, very aggressive,” said her partner, Debbie Rankin, 59, of Marietta. “She and Ikie get into bidding wars. She will go up to six something when she has no business getting there.”
Yet, hand after hand, Schwarz makes her game bids.
“She has a poker way about playing,” Rankin said. “She’ll say, ‘Ummm. I don’t know how I’m going to play this.’ Then you know she’s going to come after you.”
“She makes me laugh,” Rankin said. “I can kid with her and act silly just like a girlfriend.”
Schwarz is a deliberative, immaculate bridge player who would be at the table every day if she could round up a foursome. Otherwise, she plays bingo, word games and whatever activity Manorcare offers.
Reared on Oak Street in Atlanta’s West End, Schwarz had to leave Commercial High School before graduating and go to work at Western Union as a stenographer. She was reared as an obedient child who asked her father for permission before using the telephone and would not respond when boys rattled the house shutters to get her attention.
“My father directed my single life quite a bit. He didn’t allow any foolishness,” Schwarz said. “I was old enough to nearly marry when I stopped asking my mother what I could do.”
On Oct. 19, 1921, in front of the marble fireplace in her family’s living room, Gertrude Askew married Phil Schwarz. They lived where his work as a railroad paymaster took them and returned to Atlanta in the early 1970s. With no children of her own, she doted on her nieces and nephew. Her husband died in 1983.
“It was a good marriage, the best anybody could have,” she said. “We were as close as two people can be.”
She offers this advice for a happy marriage: “Do not disagree with each other a lot. Be close. Enjoy the same things.” She and her husband enjoyed dancing, playing bridge and traveling together. She tried playing golf with him a few times, then gave it up.
Cars are another thing she doesn’t care for. “I didn’t especially like to drive one, but I liked them to get places,” she said. “I didn’t like to take a plane. I was afraid of them, but I went because others did.”
Before her eyesight started fading and two fingers crooked slightly, Schwarz made pottery, worked crossword puzzles, knitted and was an excellent seamstress. When a dress in a shop window caught her eye, Schwarz would stand there and sketch it, then make her own. Her wedding dress and a brown velvet gown stand out in her memory as favorites.
Her childhood birthdays were celebrated at a table decorated with ribbons and flowers and gifts of fruit, candy and raisins, which were a special treat, she said.
Today, Schwarz will celebrate with about 20 relatives and her Manorcare neighbors around the biggest cake the bakery makes, Henning said.
Schwarz doesn’t try to explain why she’s lived so long. “Some people say it’s because I drink hot tea,” she said. “I don’t think about how long I’m living. I just enjoy it.”
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