Mary Breden had a nice day in her Little Neck backyard recently. Not only was the weekend weather beautiful, but generations of relatives and scores of friends showed up to wish her a happy 90th birthday.
In an era in which relationships are fleeting and marriages fail half the time, Breden sat with two people she’s known nearly all her life – her best friend, 88-year-old Eleanor Rizzo and Breden’s husband, Herman.
“My family boarded in Mary’s family’s house on the farm in [Woodbury] Connecticut. We grew up together,” Rizzo explained. The birthday girl chimed in, “She was six months old, right ‘Toots’?”
“Toots” is the nickname Breden and Rizzo have called each other since early childhood.
They picked it up from the 1923 song, “Toot, Toot, Tootsie Goodbye,” that was sung by Al Jolson in the first feature-length “talking picture,” “The Jazz Singer” in 1927.
“She introduced me to Herman,” Breden said, gesturing toward her husband of 58 years, who sat silently off to the side, letting the girls go wild.
“I was matron of honor at the wedding,” Rizzo said.
Breden is something of a legend in Little Neck and Douglaston, and a steady stream of well-wishers including members of the American Legion, Community Board 11, Lions Club, Veterans of Foreign Wars and the Memorial Day Parade Committee joined the party.
“She’s amazing,” said James Rogers, Chair of the Little Neck-Douglaston Memorial Day Parade Organization, which will conduct the 82nd annual parade in the neighborhood on Monday, May 26.
Breden’s great grand-nieces, Emily, nine, and Samantha, 13, agreed.
Mary has been a volunteer fundraiser for the Memorial Day parade as long as anybody can remember – especially shopkeepers along Northern Boulevard, who know after decades that she won’t take “No” for an answer.
“I don’t get around as good as I used to,” Mary confessed, since Herman stopped driving and she has to rely on others. “I’ve collected $2,600 so far.”
Then it was time for Breden to blow out the candles on her birthday cake – 18 in all, one for every five years – which she did in short order.
“Whew, it’s a good thing there weren’t 90,” she joked.
