Beach Terrace resident turns 100

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The secret to living to 100 is cigarettes and chocolate, according to Nettie Digiovanni’s family.

“She smoked and ate candy every day,” Pat Digiovanni, her son, said.

Beach Terrace Care Center celebrated Digiovanni’s 100th birthday on Dec. 29, and family members and Beach Terrace residents mingled in a room decorated with streamers and balloons. Music played in the background and family members and friends spoke about Digiovanni for her birthday.

“She’s a ball of fire,” Natasha Castro, Digiovanni’s social worker, said. “She’s very sweet every time I interact with her. She definitely brightens up the room.”

Digiovanni was born in Manhattan in 1916 — when a gallon of gas cost 22 cents.

Digiovanni, who has outlived her five sisters, has been living in the nursing home for almost two years. She grew up in East Harlem and eventually moved to the Bronx with her late husband, Louis Digiovanni. She also lived in Queens and moved to Long Beach in 1981.

The centenarian spent most of her life raising and taking care of her handicapped daughter Jo Ann, who suffers from epilepsy. Jo Ann made an appearance at the party, where the mother and daughter sat wheelchair-to-wheelchair and talked.

“Nettie is very spunky,” Racquel Gonzales, director of recreation at Beach Terrace, said. “She’s quick to snap right back if you ask questions. Nothing misses her. It’s a pleasure to have her here with us as a hundred-year-old person and not just as a vegetable — it’s awesome.”

Old photos of Digiovanni and family members were displayed on the wall next to a “Happy 100th Birthday, Nettie” sign.

“She wanted to live to 100,” said Jim Jacaruso, her grandnephew. “Now she wants to live until 125.”