When Trinity View resident Shirley Hodes stepped off the elevator into the lobby on September 9, she immediately began to dance. She just couldn’t contain her excitement for the milestone she was about to celebrate: her 104th birthday.
Hodes had a big day planned, including a cake and a Skype call with her son, but she also took some time to talk about her life with Marketing Specialist Sherri Redden and get her daily walk around the campus in.
Hodes was born in Connecticut on September 9, 1916. She was one of eight. She said her oldest memories are from 1918 when her mother made challah, a special bread in Jewish cuisine, for her when she asked for something sweet.
“My mother and father came from Europe with three children; they were real immigrants,” Hodes said. “Their names are inscribed in Ellis Island.”
She grew up surrounded by aunts, uncles and cousins. Her family didn’t have much money, but she said one of her uncles did have a car, and they always thought he was rich.
Eventually she married a man who became a pharmacist and had two children of her own. She moved to the Asheville area when her daughter decided to retire there.
“I was in a very nice retirement place in a town right outside of Asheville. That was when my husband had reached his 80’s,” she said. “That’s when we gave up the business and came down here.”
Eventually, it came time to move somewhere new, and her daughter began the search. She landed on Trinity View, and Hodes is so thankful she was able to make the community her home.
She can often be found enjoying the mountain air on her walks, listening to classical music in the mornings, or talking to fellow residents about her book of poetry, “Diary of a Jewish Housewife,” which she published and can still be purchased on Amazon.
“I don’t think I could have found a nicer place,” Hodes said about living at Trinity View. “My daughter looked around for places. She liked this and I liked it when she showed me around. I’ve been very satisfied, they try to keep everybody happy and healthy. They do everything to keep us content and active. It couldn’t have been a better choice.”
Hodes added that there’s no secret to living such a long life; she is just lucky. Or maybe it’s in the genes, since she has a 100-year-old sister who still lives in Connecticut that she talks to on the phone every day.
“It’s just a matter of how we are built and how we live. I had a lot of operations and stuff, but I overcame them all,” she said. “I feel I was very lucky, by accident.”
