Her secret for long life: Don’t worry
Published: July 11, 2006
Ruth Reyenga’s recipe for living to be 100: Friends, an easygoing attitude and a dose of spunk.
“I can’t believe I’m 100 and able to take care of myself and live alone,” Reyenga said Friday. “I have a lot of friends here, and I guess that’s what keeps me going.”
Reyenga’s birthday was celebrated Friday in the dining room at Wetmore Towers, where she has lived in a three-room apartment for the last 30 years. She is the oldest resident of the towers that are operated by the Morristown Housing Authority and the resident who has lived there the longest, according to Dorothy Taylor, who manages the towers.
Seated during lunch with friends and her daughter, Reyenga said she believes her “take life as it comes” approach also contributed to her longevity.
“I’m not a worrywart,” she said. “I take life one day at a time.”
Her friends, however, said she also doesn’t take any guff.
“They’re like family here, and they fight sometimes,” said Al Pierce, a friend. “But if somebody gets on their high horse, she’ll let them know it. She’ll say, ‘Don’t talk to me like that again.’”
Reyenga is very proud that she is still able to take care of herself. She cleans her apartment, balances her checkbook and dines out a few times each week.
Born in Oakland, she moved to Morristown in the early 1930s. She has outlived her husband and five sisters but has her daughter, her only child, a granddaughter, also an only child, and a great-grandson.
“She’s a light and a joy,” said daughter Joan Lightner of Morris Township. “She’s my best friend and my best teacher.”
When asked her plans for the future, the long-time congregant of the First Baptist Church pointed toward the heavens, chuckled, and said; “I hope.”
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