Long Beach salutes 105-year-old woman with car parade

Faustina Peri has survived the Spanish flu, two world wars, hurricanes, and is now witnessing a challenge that is taking thousands of lives around the world: the coronavirus pandemic.

Fortunately, Peri is doing well, so well, in fact, that she celebrated her birthday on April 14 with a parade of cars passing by her home on West Park Avenue.

She has plenty to celebrate. She is 105 years old.

Peri's granddaughter, Stephanie Marra, has worked as a police officer for the Long Beach Police Department for about 14 years. She said Long Beach Police Commissioner Michael Tangney, with the assistance of Peri's grandson, Ronald Walsh, who is a Nassau County police chief, put together a parade for her grandmother. Members of the LBPD, Nassau County Police Department, Long Beach and other fire departments and many residents paraded down West Park Avenue to give her grandmother a special birthday.

"It's bittersweet that we can't be in the house with her," Marra said. "Living, to her, isn't a big deal, but to us. . . it's everything."

Peri was born in Italy on April 13, 1915, and moved to the United States in 1927. She came to Long Beach in 1963 and has become a staple of the community. Peri was married to John Peri for 69 years before his death in 2006. They had four children -- John, Virginia, Carol and Robert. Together they have many grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

Marra recalled spending holidays at her grandma's house and praised Peri's "delicious" cooking. She added that everything they ate was "right out of the bay," including lobsters and other seafood.

Marra attributes her grandmother's longevity to her healthy lifestyle. She said that just before her 101st birthday, Peri was walking every day, reading a book a week and playing endless hours of Scrabble. However, now that her eyesight has deteriorated, Peri's sister Anna Santapolo, who turned 84 on April 15, reads to her as much as possible.

"It's truly amazing and it's a testimony to her quality of life," Marra said about her grandmother's milestone.