Proud to be 108, America is her ‘Heaven'

&#8220I'm proud that I'm 108,” Anna Eder said with more than a trace of mischief in her strong voice.
Eder is one of 18 residents over the age of 100 at Ozanam Hall, a 432-bed nursing home with a staff of 630 in Bayside.
&#8220You know some of the others here are jealous of me,” Eder said. &#8220When I turned 100 and they put my picture up, they thought I had my nose in the air.” She said she didn't even know her photo had been put up and she wondered why her friend was being so mean. &#8220Then I just said to her, you do what I did, you turn 100 and you'll get your picture up.”
Eder might still speak with an old European lilt to her voice but she is a pure New Yorker. Don't keep her waiting, she's far too busy to just twiddle her thumbs.
After eight years at Ozanam Hall, Eder still sits at the same lunch table she was originally assigned. &#8220I've watched them all come and go,” she said.
Born on November 18, 1898, Eder outlived her elder brother who drowned when they were both children, and she has outlived her husband and her son.
A painted tile mural on the wall in the activity room depicts old New York; there's the Brooklyn Bridge, the Statue of Liberty and a street in Flatbush, Brooklyn where horse-drawn trolley cars roll down the street. &#8220I'm trying to think,” Eder said. &#8220Yes, yes, I've got a strong feeling the trolleys were drawn by horses when I arrived in New York in 1914.”
&#8220I've seen so much, WWI, the Depression, WWII, but now I can't see anything, I can't hear anything, and I can't walk anywhere,” she said. &#8220I eat anything I want,” she added.
Eder's life in the old country - somewhere in the Austro-Hungarian Empire - was hard, but once she got to America, her life improved dramatically. &#8220I had a job in two weeks,” she said, then puts her fingers to her lips conspiratorially. &#8220I was a mother's helper. My friend got me the job but she said to keep quiet about it.”
Eder doesn't participate in organized activities. Instead she goes to mass each day and then heads for the lobby to do some people watching.
Eder's mind is sharp and she soon has everyone laughing at her quips. She is particularly adept at remembering dates. She said she arrived in America on June 25, 1914. &#8220My daughter Barbara's birthday is July 16, and she was very surprised when I remembered,” she said.
The second of eight children, she still has a brother living in Valley Stream. &#8220He's only 93,” she said. Eder has six grandchildren and 12 great grandchildren and takes great pleasure in them.
&#8220Once I got to America everything was good. I tell people, I've died and gone to heaven. This is heaven.”