A Centenarian, Her Dark Chocolate, and the Kindness of Neighbors  

I read a heart warming story in the New York Times about a 101 year old woman who loves dark chocolate and knows allot about the kindness of neighbors so I want to share it with you. Her name is Elizabeth Goodyear and she recently celebrated her 101st birthday in her one-bedroom rent control apartment in New York City.

Ms. Goodyear was born in Philadelphia in 1907 and has said that since the age of three she has always savored a piece or two of chocolate, especially dark chocolate every day. She likes good chocolate and I suspect that’s sometimes chocolate truffles, a gourmet chocolate cake, and assorted fine chocolate bars.

She went to find a stage career in New York back in 1928 – the year before the Great Depression and ended up working as a writer or collaborator on more than twenty plays. Ms. Goodyear met many people in New York including famous ones; she had drinks with Duke Ellington, took dance lesions from Martha Graham and met George Balanchine. She repeatedly says about her life and how she recalls it "I only remember the amusing things: I don’t remember any depressing things." That’s a great philosophy of life.

When she recently needed money to pay her rent and part of her home health aid’s wages, neighbors – most of them much younger than her pitched in and got her the money and help. One neighborhood friend a yoga instructor advertised Ms. Goodyear’s plight at a downtown yoga studio saying something like. Liz hasn’t any family now and all her old friends have passed on, but she is always very positive in spirit, enjoys people that stop by to say hello, read to her since her eyesight is poor or to talk about life. By the way she loves good chocolate.

Liz was soon inundated with kindly neighbors ready to visit her and bring her good chocolate. She has many chocolate loving friends.

In fact, they now visit her regularly, shop for her, bring their pets by for her to pat, and even read to her since her eyesight is pretty much gone. A week after her 101st birthday, she still had a bottle of champagne and dark chocolate in truffle and bar form from the gifts she received. Ms Goodyear is not only a bright, warm soul who has lived a full life and overcome many challenges she also has quite a sense of humor.

A sign near her front door says "Do Not Resuscitate." I laughed when I heard that. Liz has lived a long warm life and when she goes she wants to go naturally and not have her life artificially prolonged. Can you blame her?

Ms. Goodyear’s positive spirit and love of life and dark chocolate might be some of her secrets for enjoying a long life. Who knows? In any case, I wish her a happy 101st year of life!