Saxonburg woman turns 108 years old
SAXONBURG — Emma Mascari, a resident of the Saxony Health Center, 223 Pittsburgh St., turns 108 years old today.
The oldest resident of the Saxony Health Center will be feted with a party in the activity room with the other residents, the health center staff, her family and a cake, said Carrie Connelly, the activities director of the health center.
Mascari is in good health, according to Connelly.
“She comes to the music entertainment, pet therapy, the singalongs,” said Connelly. “She comes to the parties and the socials.”
“We try to get her out of her room as much as possible,” said Connelly.
“She’s the oldest resident by far” of the 98 people living at the health center, according to Connelly.
Mascari’s daughter, J. Audrey Sallach, 85, of O’Hare Township doesn’t know the secret of her mother’s longevity.
“I wish I could tell you,” said Sallach. “She was always nervous. She took nerve pills.”
“She watched what she ate,” Sallach added. “My father was Italian, and she could cook Italian, but she didn’t eat a lot of it.”
Mascari was born Jan. 22, 1906, on Pittsburgh’s North Side, the daughter of Adam and Bertha Hering, said Sallach. “Her sister and her parents came over in a boat from Switzerland, but she was born here.”
“She can yodel, she can still yodel if you ask her.
“She married Marion Mascari when she was 20 and had me and my brother, Robert Mascari,” Sallach said. “She worked as a telephone operator and cooked for priest after she married.”
Sallach said her mother lived most of her life in the North Hills.
“I certainly miss her,” she said. “She was a wonderful mother to me. She helped me for at least a week whenever I came home from the hospital with one of my six children.”
Sallach said Mascari has seven grandchildren and one great-grandson as descendants.
About 15 years ago she moved into the first of a series of assisted living facilities. When the last one closed down last March, Sallach said her mother moved to the Saxonburg facility.
Sallach said it is a little farther from her home, but she tries to get to visit as often as she can.
It’s been a little difficult for her lately, Sallach said, as she just had teeth pulled out.
But today she will be in attendance to mark her mother’s milestone birthday along with five grandchildren and one great-grandson.
“We got a letter from President Obama when she turned 105,” said Sallach. “It is in a frame in my daughter’s house. I wonder if we will get another one, if they are still interested.”
