If someone asks 101-year-old Sarah Fishman what the secret of a long life is, she’ll say she doesn’t know. But her loved ones have a theory.
“I think the key to longevity, just based on what I’m seeing with her, is having a very strong social life,” said Fishman’s niece Leslie Smith. “You see all her friends in there, that is a testament to what it takes to live a long life.”
Dozens of people gathered in the lobby of a Long Beach apartment building to celebrate the centenarian’s 101st birthday on Saturday, Aug. 24. Her friends and family swarmed around her, waiting for their turn to take photos and speak with her.
“I always liked people. I was always interested in what was going on in the world. I had some hard times and some good times,” Fishman told the Signal Tribune.
“[Sarah] would always take me shopping, cook for me, because my mom was always at work, so she wasn’t able to cook or do anything,” said Tina Parisi, family friend. So [Sarah] basically just filled that space like a mom. […] She’s the most kind person that we would ever meet, any of us, I can speak for everybody.”
Born the daughter of Russian immigrants in 1923 Chicago, Fishman has lived a long and full life. When the Signal Tribune asked Fishman what she was proudest of, she spoke about her career in union organizing, in which she helped unite workers at major companies, such as International Harvesters’ Chicago branch.
Fishman also fought against the attempted deportation of Harry Bridges, a labor activist who worked to unionize longshoremen. The federal government labeled Bridges as a subversive and a communist because of his organizing efforts, and tried to have him deported to his native Canada multiple times.
But the efforts of Fishman and other union workers were successful. Bridges was never deported, and became a citizen of the United States in 1945.
Fishman’s husband and two brothers were deployed during World War II, but all came home safely. Fishman remembers all the families that were not as fortunate, and the scores of mothers who lost their sons.
Her family moved to Las Vegas in the 1950s as the city was still developing, where she said she was neighbors with a mobster for a short period of time.
While in Las Vegas, Fishman’s daughter began nannying for a little girl, and Fishman and the child quickly formed a close bond. Even after her daughter was no longer her nanny, Fishman would let Tina Parisi stay at her house while the girl’s mother was at work.
“My mom is Chinese, so she never celebrated the holidays,” Parisi said. “So since I was a little girl, Sarah would give me all of my holidays: Christmas, Easter, Thanksgiving, everything. And then also I spent a lot of time over there because my mom was never home. [Sarah] would always take me shopping, cook for me, because my mom was always at work, so she wasn’t able to cook or do anything. So [Sarah] basically just filled that space like a mom. […] She’s the most kind person that we would ever meet, any of us, I can speak for everybody.”
Fishman moved to Southern California permanently after her husband passed away in 2008. She lived in Los Alamitos with a friend for nine years, and then relocated to Long Beach in 2017.
She had first visited California when she was 20 years old, and when she came to stay decades later, she said the most noticeable difference was how much land had been developed. Her early memories were of wide open green spaces where skyscrapers now stand.
It was here in Long Beach that even more family found her. Local lawyer, Leslie Renee Smith, knew her mother had been adopted and had been searching for her biological family. Through an early DNA analysis project conducted by National Geographic, prior to the advent of 23&Me, she found that her mother and Fishman were first cousins.
While Smith unfortunately learned that her grandmother had died 3 years before that, the two branches of the family were able to come together, and Smith and Fishman formed a particularly close bond.
When Fishman had a severe decline in health nearly a decade ago, the doctors wanted to intubate her, but Smith refused to let it happen. Their loved ones credit Smith and her decision as the reason Fishman is still with them today.
“I know how much, number one, she loves to eat, and when she’s eating, I know she’s healthy. And she eats like a truck, I mean she can eat, it has to be soft food, but if she finds something that she likes, she will eat a lot. And I know how much she loves to talk. That’s her life, right? She loves to share stories. She just loves to talk,” Smith told the Signal Tribune. “I thought if they took away that one thing, her ability to speak and vocalize and use her throat, that would be her downfall, and so I rejected it, and because of that, she’s still here.”
She is still a longtime leader in her local chapter of the Red Hat Society, an international women’s organization. Many of her fellow Red Hat members attended her birthday party on Saturday.
It took four long tables to accommodate enough seating for everyone who came to Fishman’s birthday party. Before everyone sat down to eat, they watched a video made by family friend and filmmaker Qumaru Nisa which brought multiple guests to tears.
It showed a collection of photos ranging from black and white photos of Fishman’s ancestors back in Russia, to photos of her in bright pink ensembles on recent outings.
Ater the video finished playing, Fishman donned a pink party hat and sat in front of her bright pink cake, sharing a meal with those whose hearts she’s touched throughout her long life.
Fishman ended her interview with the Signal Tribune by urging members of the public to “Do whatever they can to help people.”