Theodore Yecies celebrates his 100th birthday with twin daughters Marcia Kirsten of Short Hills and Carolyn Blum of Livingston.
April 24, 2008
Ted Yecies remembers his mother’s 100th birthday celebration, which was covered for an article in this newspaper in 1980.
“But I never thought I’d live to be 100,” he said.
Think again, Mr. Yecies. As he prepares to celebrate his own 100th birthday on April 27, Mr. Yecies sat down with a reporter for what is becoming a family tradition of centenary interviews.
Yecies has a commanding presence, a booming voice, and charm that make him seem years younger than his age. He directs people away who come to offer good wishes but leans over to one of his twin daughters, 72, to ask for just the right word for the speech he plans to give at a family party to be held May 10.
(On April 16, family and friends at Brighton Gardens in West Orange, where he has lived for the past year, held the first of two 100th birthday parties. Also feted on April 16 was Brighton Gardens resident Meda Sonnabend, who turned 100 on April 6.)
Yecies celebrates his birthday with family members and remembers his own mother’s 100th birthday celebration, featured in this paper, then called The Jewish News. Back row, left to right: grandson-in-law Maurice Cohen, granddaughter Amy Cohen, daughter Marcia Kirsten; front row: Yecies and daughter Carolyn Blum. Photos by Johanna Ginsberg
Yecies’ eldest granddaughter, Amy Cohen, 51, who lives in Short Hills, said she always expected he would live to be 100.
“About 20 years ago, my mother-in-law passed away,” she said. “My son, who was a young man, was worried about his great-grandfather when he saw older folks, some of whom were unwell, stopping by our house. He says, ‘Zayda, I’m so worried, I’m so upset. These people look like you.’ My grandfather rips open his shirt like Superman and he says, ‘Not me, Not me!’ And he had muscles and everything!” she said.
Theodore Yecies was born in Newark to Louis and Esther Yecies, the fourth of six children. He left school at 14 to work in the family hardware store, located in the Ironbound section of Newark.
He eventually bought a small refrigeration and air conditioning company that became Tesco Distributors, Inc. In 1933 he married, and he and his wife, Sylvia, raised twin daughters, Carolyn and Marcia, first in Hillside and later in Millburn. They were active in the local Jewish community as members of Congregation B’nai Israel and in UJA.
He recalled baking his mother’s “Super Duper Cheesecake” and raffling off the recipe for a synagogue fundraiser. He also served as president of the Ruth Gottscho Kidney Foundation, established by a neighbor and named in memory of the neighbor’s daughter. At 65, he retired, and he and his wife became snowbirds and then full-time residents of Sunny Isles Beach, Florida.
He never lost his sense of humor. Cohen remembers soaking in his Florida pool, listening to vacationing children complain about their nagging grandmothers. “You think you have it bad?” he told them. “I have to live with one!”
Ted Yecies’ mother’s 100th birthday celebration was covered for an article in the New Jersey Jewish News in July 1980.
Age barely seems to catch up with Yecies, said family members. When, at 90, he decided to write his memoirs, he found himself teaching a class on memoir-writing at the local JCC.
At 95 he bought a new car.
And at 98, for his daughters’ 70th birthday, he flew up from Florida as a birthday surprise.
But with his wife battling Alzheimer’s Disease, he heeded his children’s request to move back to the area, and returned to West Orange to live in Brighton Gardens about a year ago. Sylvia passed away in February at 96. He is the only one remaining of his siblings.
In addition to his daughters, Yecies has four grandchildren and nine great grandchildren.
He has one piece of advice to anyone hoping for long life: “Find a woman with good genes to be your mother!”
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