“Aged to Perfection” read Porta Nickles’ white-and-gold sash, and it was hard to argue otherwise on her 107th birthday.
Staff and residents at Brightview Senior Living in Great Falls helped Nickles celebrate that nearly incomprehensible milestone Feb. 15 with a party featuring a crooning disk jockey, a loud bang followed by a shower of confetti, a spread of her favorite Greek foods and a cake topped with colorful icing balloons.
Nickles smiled and clapped as residents danced to “New York, New York,” “Celebration,” “My Way,” “Electric Slide,” “Macarena,” the “Hawaii Five-0” theme song and – her favorite – “YMCA,” which she has had played annually ever since her 85th birthday.
“I love to dance,” Nickles said from her wheelchair. “They’re dancing for me.”
Born to native Greek parents in Fort Edwards, N.J., on Feb. 15, 1916 – during President Woodrow Wilson’s administration, mind you – Nickles (maiden name Lemberakis) later moved to Trenton, N.J. She had two brothers and a sister.
Nickles knew within 20 seconds when she had met her future husband, and married him after two weeks of courtship, said her son, Peter Nickles, of Washington, D.C.
“Their families knew each other,” he said. “That’s very important in the Greek tradition. They knew he would be a good provider for the family.”
After marrying, she moved with her husband to Middletown, N.Y. Nickles was a homemaker while her husband worked in the restaurant business, and she was active in the local Greek community and Greek Orthodox Church, her son said. She never had a driver’s license, he added.
Her husband died after they had been married about 40 years, and then Nickles did something unexpected: She went to Orange County Community College and got certified to become a teacher’s assistant. Nickles was highly popular with students and did that job for more than 30 years, retiring in the late 1980s, her son said.
Friends and relatives agreed Nickles is an absolute stickler for correct spelling and grammar; one was nervous about writing a birthday card, lest her gimlet eye catch a mistake.
Those hoping to glean the secret to her longevity might be surprised to learn it did not have to do with exercise or a special diet. Instead, it stemmed from her boundless positivity, constant smile and unwillingness to complain or carry grudges, her son said.
“I’ve grown young by watching my mother grow old,” Peter Nickles said. “She never harbors any resentment toward anyone. I’ve never seen her angry.”
Porta Nickles’ family moved her from Upstate New York to the Brightview facility in early 2016, just months after it opened. Brightview resident George Haas said Nickles’ personality has made her popular at the facility.
“She’s a delight,” he said. “Everyone gravitates toward her. She always has that smile.”
Nickles is the oldest resident at Brightview Great Falls. Her hearing has declined, so staff and fellow community members often communicate with her by writing on a dry-erase board, said Brenda White, the 88-bed facility’s executive director.
“She’s always positive, always happy, very complimentary and never complaining,” White said. “She always tells everyone how beautiful they are and says, ‘You’re an angel.’”
Nickles has been a model for her children and grandchildren, her son said, and shows love without reservation.
“She always looks on the bright side of life,” he said. “I don’t think there’s a tense bone in her body.”
