Resident celebrates 100th in grand style
If you give credence to age cliches, Frank Congelasi will disabuse them. He is sharp as a tack and gets along quite nicely, albeit with the help of a cane.
You might even see him puttering around in the yard, picking up branches or sweeping the patio
Last weekend – and pretty much for several days afterward – his family and others throughout Southwest Florida celebrated the North Fort Myers resident on his 100th birthday on July 12.
A surprise party was held in his honor at the Cape Coral firefighter’s union hall, followed by well-wishes and birthday cakes from friends and acquaintances throughout the week.
Such a milestone doesn’t happen too often. Still, Congelasi didn’t think it was as big a deal as everyone else did.
“It’s just another day. I don’t feel any younger or any older,” Congelasi laughed at his home Tuesday. “I feel as good as I did yesterday.”
Congelasi said the key to making it to 100 was working outside in the fresh air, which is what he did when he started work at age 21 with the Civilian Conservation Corps. That was a work program for unemployed, unmarried men as part of the New Deal that provided jobs related to the conservation and development of natural resources in rural lands.
“FDR did that to get the boys working. We were cleaning parks, building roads and planting trees for the government,” Congelasi said, who started out in Frankfort, N.Y., near Utica, before heading out west, first to Idaho, then to California for the winter.
Congelasi stayed there in hopes of getting a job. After deciding that cutting down trees wasn’t for him, he helped build a railroad, first as a waterboy, then in shipping, and soon developed a long career in the lumber business (Due to a heart murmur, Congelasi didn’t serve during World War II).
Congelasi, who had a previous marriage and adopted two children, moved to Illinois and started a second career at the Central Illinois dock near Peoria, unloading barges loaded with steel.
Around that time he met his second wife, Shirley.
That first meeting didn’t quite suggest they would later be married.
“My nephew was running a (boarding house) and I was helping him. And her daughter was on my pickup,” Congelasi said. “I told her to get off my pickup, and Shirley heard me and jumped all over me.”
They married in 1968, and later that year had their first son, Frank Jr., when his father was 54, with Anthony following five years later. Shirley has a daughter, Kay, from a previous marriage and two grandchildren from her, Noah and Anthony, both 5 years old.
“His nephew told me that I was going to marry his uncle, who I never met, and I did,” Shirley said. “It’s been an uphill battle. He’s been sick a couple times, but we made it.”
Frank Jr. moved the Florida 15 years ago, and his parents followed even though Shirley loves the cold.
They joined the Bayshore Community Chapel, which also recently celebrated its 100th birthday in grand style. Frank Jr. wanted nothing less for his father.
“My cousin is a retired firefighter who was a battalion chief (Larry Hedrick). So we were able to get their hall,” Frank Jr. said. “We had people come from California, New York, Illinois, Nevada, and local friends and relatives. We surprised him.”
On Tuesday, the chiropractor surprised Congelasi with a party and birthday cake made to look like a pizza (as opposed to last year when they made one that looked like spaghetti and meatballs), friends and relatives have had him over for even more cake, and the Iguana Mia threw a celebration for him as well.
So why was he able to reach 100?
“I never drank much. I have a glass of wine during dinner. I smoked when I was a teenager, but when I was in the CCC I quit,” Congelasi said. “I mom would send me cigarettes and my friend would help himself to them. So I wrote my mom to tell her to stop sending them.”
Another reason could be the fact he worked hard and still keeps himself occupied and active.
“He worked hard his whole life. He was out there today working on the yard and sweeping the patio. We try to curtail him from certain things because he wants to do too much,” Frank Jr. said.
“He wants to climb the ladder get on the roof and cut the branches from the trees,” Shirley explained.