
Millie Dien
Photos Courtesy of Toby & Leon Cooperman Sinai Residences
Pearl Gelb and Millie Dien, two centenarian sisters living in West Boca, say they feel lucky that family and friends have enriched their long lives. The siblings recall numerous key milestones — such as their wedding dates, Dec. 24, 1944, and June 15, 1941, respectively — but it’s Gelb, the younger at 100, who sums up their “live in the present” philosophy.
“We make the most of our time now,” she says, before continuing. “While we enjoy talking about our excellent parents and childhood and our happy marriages and children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren, we do not live in the past. We have many wonderful friends here at Sinai and play canasta and go to dinners. We are very social.”
Her sister, who is 106, adds, “The key is to be active with other people.”
The two live in separate apartments at Toby & Leon Cooperman Sinai Residences. Their brother also lived there until he passed away a couple of years ago.
The siblings were born in the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn, New York, “at that time, a poor area,” Gelb recalls. Their parents were Jewish immigrants from tiny towns in Budapest and Russia. Once in America, their mother sewed in a factory and their father sold pants.
“You want to know about my life?” Gelb asks. “We were all very close and very nice to one another.”
She followed with a memory that’s stayed with her.
“The house always smelled good when we came home from school. Mom was baking sweet potatoes.”
One detail stands out in particular.
“She was crazy clean and washed the kitchen floor with The Forward, the Yiddish newspaper,” Gelb says.
The sisters and their husbands bought a 100-year-old house in the Flatbush section of Brooklyn and raised their five children together. All four adults worked, eventually retiring to South Florida around 1989. They lived in Whisper Walk in Boca Raton and Lexington Club in Delray Beach and volunteered for Hadassah at Coral Lakes.
The sisters have been at Sinai Residences for nine years.
“I try to be friendly to everyone. If I say, ‘Good morning,’ and they walk away,” Dien says, “I just assume they didn’t hear or see me.”
Gelb agrees.
“Be positive. Have a sense of humor. Look up, never look down.”
Best of all, the sisters check in with each other daily by phone.
“We are always there for one another and we’re helpful. It’s a wonderful feeling,” Gelb says.