The fellowship hall on the bottom floor of Plant City Towers was packed on Aug. 6. Anxious residents and friends and family of Margaret Gargani waited downstairs for her to arrive. They were all part of a surprise party for Gargani’s 100th birthday.
“She’s coming,” said Judy Vogel, Gargani’s youngest daughter. “She’s coming.”
The crowd of mostly women hushed. Only erratic whispers could be heard whistling through teeth.
They continued to wait.
And wait.
Ten minutes passed. Gargani still hadn’t come down from her room upstairs. The ladies started to tease Vogel for the false alarm.
“I don’t know if I have ever seen you ladies this quiet,” Vogel said. “This is the longest they’ve been quiet.”
Meanwhile, Gargani’s other daughter, Marianne Pillarella, was busy trying to talk her mother into attending the weekly Wednesday morning coffee. She usually does. But today, she was tired. Pillarella’s convincing paid off. She walked her mother to the room.
It erupted with an applause when the Pennsylvania native appeared in the doorway under a Happy Birthday sign. One thing was for certain, she didn’t look 100.
What was her secret?
“No drinking, no smoking,” Gargani said.
She sat at a table surrounding by five generations of family members, waiting for the candles to be lit on her cake.
Everyone in the room knew her secret — from Vogel to Gargani’s 9-year-old great-granddaughter, Emilise Avendano.
But, she also has another tip to a long life — exercise. Gargani still does chair exercise class every Monday and Friday.
“I like it, because everybody is friendly and you know everybody,” Gargani said.
As one of her grandchildren lit the candle on her cake, her friends and family gathered around her to sing. Not even one line into the song, Gargani blew out her candles. She smiled slyly. At 100, you don’t have time to wait. At 100, you do what you want.
The candle was lit again and the song was sung, a little faster this time. Vogel cut the strawberry-filled cake, while Gargani looked at her great-great-grandson, Colby McGraw, sitting in his mother’s lap. He is just 2 months old.
The sight of him brings her back to the happiest moments of her enduring life.
“I think every time one of the babies was born, it meant a lot,” Gargani said. “Every time, I said, ‘Thank you, Jesus.’”
Contact Amber Jurgensen at ajurgensen@plantcityobserver.com.
FAMILY TREE
Margaret Gargani has a large family tree at 100:
• Five children
• 14 grandchildren
• 18 great-grandchildren
• One great-great-grandchild