A Flushing centenarian blew out the candles on her 101st birthday cake as she rang in the new year.
Gaetana Capalbi turned 101 on January 1, attributing her long life to good habits.
“I live a clean life,” she laughed, “[with] no drinking or smoking. I never did.”
Capalbi came from Sicily to the United States and settled in Astoria with her father and one brother in 1932, her family said. She found employment in a small local millinery operation before embroidering for a dress factory and later working assembly jobs in factories for 20 years.
“Those days, we worked for nothing, for pennies,” Capalbi said. “I never thought I would live to 101. It was a nice life, an easy life. It was beautiful.”
Capalbi married her late husband, Frank, and together they had one son, Donald, in 1945. She has been living in Flushing with Donald for 38 years.
Comptroller John Liu presented Capalbi with a commendation on behalf of the city during her birthday bash, recognizing her for “living life to the fullest” and for “serving as a living example of the successful immigrant experience.”
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