APRIL 2024
The secrets to 100!
As we approach the 100th day of the year, it begs the question: What’s the secret to a happy, healthy and long life? Staying active? Healthy eating? Friendship? Perhaps it’s moving into PPH! As of late March, there are 18 centenarians living at PPH (and five 99-year-olds slated to turn 100 in 2024). These residents reside in all levels of care — Independent Living, Personal Care and Skilled Nursing (Pathways). Two residents who became centenarians in 2023 share a special friendship — Margaret Rosenkaimer and Anna Cannon. Born one month apart, Margaret and Anna are friends who spend a lot of time together inside the community. ‘A good attitude’ Margaret Rosenkaimer, a Lawncrest native, has known PPH for a long time — more than half of her 100 years. Her grandfather, born in 1869, lived his final years at PPH. Margaret would visit along with her young daughter, until he passed away in 1956. When she volunteered for Meals on Wheels, she’d pick up food from PPH. She was active for many years at Lawndale Presbyterian Church, just a few blocks away, and was also in a local Women’s Club that organized Bingo events at nearby disabled communities and nursing homes. Margaret says that as she got older, she never expected to make it to the Centenarian Club. “My mom passed away at 99 and I never thought I’d reach 100,” she said. But she made it, and she says another factor is demeanor. “I think it’s all attitude,” she said. “You have to keep a good attitude.”
In This Issue...
Anna Cannon and Marge Rosenkaimer, centenarians born one month apart, pictured here at friend June's 95th birthday. Love of dance Anna Cannon still loves to dance. If you were at PPH’s St. Patrick’s Day party in mid-March, you may have seen a leprechaun dancing — that was Anna! From the cha-cha-cha to the Irish Jig and the Charleston in her younger years, dancing has always been a hobby of Anna’s. “I danced on my 100th birthday last year; I did the polka with my granddaughter,” she said. And that’s not all Anna has passed along to younger relatives. When her grandchildren were growing up, she taught them how to swim; she was a regular swimmer until her mid-80s. Besides swimming, she enjoyed sports as a kid — volleyball and handball. “I was a tomboy growing up; I played handball with the boys, which was almost unheard of back then,” Anna said. “My best girlfriend would sit on the steps and watch us play.” Laughter and Gratefulness Anna, like Margaret, spent many years helping others. She worked at COHMAR, a Philadelphia behavioral and Centenarians >>> Continued on page 5
• Celebrating the Women of PPH • 'Live Well' and prolong your independence • Happy 107th, Cecelia!
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