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A Century Plus Ten
Hubbard woman still insists on cleaning her own room
By EMMALEE C. TORISK
HUBBARD
From age 14, when she got her first job in a men’s hosiery factory, Rose Cifalde always has been busy.
And even though she turns 110 years old today, her son, Anthony Cifalde, knows that come Saturday, she’ll still insist on stripping her bed — a long-held, weekly ritual that she prefers to tackle on her own.
“She cleans her own room, and she makes her own bed,” said Anthony, 82. “She thinks we don’t do it right.”
Both Anthony and his sister, 76-year-old Mary Grace Cifalde, live with Rose in the Warner Road home she’s owned for the past 42 years. Only within the past three or four years have the siblings noticed any signs of their mother’s slowing down, Anthony said, adding that, overall, she’s in generally good health, with “less things wrong with her than with the two of us.”
Aside from good genes, Rose explained that her longevity is the result of only one thing: “Hard work,” she said.
Rose was born in Youngstown on Sept. 3, 1903, to Anthony and Mary Grace DeCarlo Anzivino, and was the second-youngest of nine children. Though her family moved to Connecticut for a few years, they moved back to Ohio when Rose was a teenager, and she worked in her father’s Brier Hill grocery store until age 20.
In August 1924, just a few weeks before turning 21, she married Carmen Cifalde, a family friend. The two were engaged for a year but always had to have a chaperon — usually a family member — when they went out, Mary Grace said. Carmen died in 1980.
By age 27, Rose had three children of her own: Anthony, as well as his older brothers, William and John, who died in 2007 and 2001, respectively.
Tragedy soon would strike the family, though, Mary Grace said. Both Rose’s sister and her brother-in-law died within a year of each other, leaving their seven children — five of them under 12 — without parents.
So, knowing that the children likely would go to an orphanage without her intervention, Rose moved in with them and assumed the responsibility of 10 children — both hers and her sister’s. She lived with them for five years.
“I remember stories about where she had to do a lot of work and how she took care of the kids,” Mary Grace said. “She always told us to grow up to help other people, and it will come back to you tenfold.”
Anthony and Mary Grace also said how, when they were growing up, their mother was almost in constant motion, especially when it came to taking care of everyone, as well as cleaning and cooking.
“She worked hard all her life,” Anthony said.
In addition, Rose was practically famous for her Sunday dinners of spaghetti — including “meatballs as big as baseballs” — and a roast, Mary Grace said. They were a tradition, and one that at least a dozen family members and friends would attend each week.
In her 50s, Rose got a job at Youngstown College, now Youngstown State University, after she fell in love with the idea of having a brand-new gas stove.
“We had an old-fashioned stove,” Anthony said. “My dad said we couldn’t afford a new one, so she went to work. She was only going to stay one year, but she stayed five years, because she liked it so much.”
Even today, Rose stays active, though her eyesight and hearing are going, Anthony said. For example, she takes her dog — her constant companion who is always by her side — on walks with the help of a walker, and also makes sure to vote every year.
“She voted as soon as she was able,” Mary Grace said. “She’s very patriotic.”
Rose has four grandchildren, all of whom are in their 40s and 50s, and four great-grandchildren.
Among the latter is 27-year-old Jennifer Cifalde, who lives in Poland.
Whenever Jennifer thinks of her great-grandmother, she pictures an incredibly hard-working, loving person. She also recalled hearing stories about how Rose took care of the family in both good times and bad.
“She has a big heart, and is the mother figure of the family,” Jennifer said.