At 104, Marjorie Beall attributes her longevity to a healthy diet, plenty of exercise, and a love of hot tea and murder mysteries. Photo provided
By Jan Engoren
Marjorie Beall, who turned 104 on Aug. 10, is an ideal illustration of aging well and could be the poster child for September’s National Healthy Aging month.
Beall, who has lived in Palm Beach County for 102 years, lived on her own in recent years until she moved into MorseLife Health System, a residential service for seniors in West Palm Beach, last year.
According to the NIH National Institute on Aging and the Alzheimer’s Foundation of America, healthy aging encompasses a balanced diet and exercise, learning new things, getting seven to nine hours of sleep each night, not smoking, volunteering, staying connected, minimizing stress, perhaps getting a dog and walking it — and signing up for a free virtual memory screening at https://alzfdn.org.
Coming to the “land of sunshine and oranges,” Beall arrived at age 2 with her parents —Thomas and Edith Robinson — and older brother, Colin, by way of Australia, New Zealand and England. They sailed from England to Havana, Cuba, and then boarded Henry Flagler’s ferry to Key West and then his overseas railroad to Palm Beach.
Looking for opportunity beyond the boom-and-bust Florida of the 1920s, the family traveled in an open touring car to Long Beach, California, and Seattle, then returned to Australia and England by ship.
Hearing once more of a land “more fertile than the Nile,” the family returned to Florida, and in 1926 survived the hurricane, even though their wood frame house in Northwood Village was destroyed.
“My father hollered ‘make for the beds!’ while my mother sang ‘Nearer My God to Thee’ as our roof was coming off,” Beall recalls.
The centenarian treasures a yellowed photograph of her at age 2 with Colin, then 6. The two are floating on a rickety handmade boat in a town known as Geerworth, near Belle Glade.
Beall can remember simpler times with no air conditioning, when people swam in the ocean to stay cool and listened to WIOD in Miami — the only local radio station back then.
She grew up on Palm Beach island, where her parents were caretakers in the Frazier mansion, home to socialite and “Poor Little Rich Girl” Brenda Frazier.
Beall, who has three grandchildren and three great-grandchildren, graduated from Palm Beach High School in 1938 and landed a job as a typist for $18 a week at a Worth Avenue real estate office.
In 1942 she married James Warner Beall, a U.S. Army Air Corps electronics officer who helped set up the Army Air Base in Boca Raton near the Bath & Tennis Club. The base housed military employees and worked with a top-secret technology known as radar.
Beall herself earned a top-secret military clearance from the U.S. government and was able to work as a secretary for $30 a week at the Boca Raton Club, which was used by the military for housing and classrooms from 1942 to 1944.
After the war, Beall and her husband built a home on a lake in the southern part of West Palm Beach, where she remained until last year. He died in 1979.
During the Korean conflict, with her security clearance still active, Beall went to the Philippines and worked for the government typing secret military communications.
“I’ve been very thankful for all of my life,” she says.
Her only son, James “Jim” Colin Beall, 81, a retired pediatric dentist in South Carolina, says, “My mom was always active and always worked. She became an avid walker and would walk with her companion, Mike Fischer, her former high school sweetheart.”
Involved in Holy Trinity Episcopal Church in West Palm Beach, Beall “loved cruises, reading and swimming and never smoked or drank,” according to her son.
“I credit this for her good health,” he adds, noting that Beall’s own mother lived until the age of 88.
Beall agrees, attributing her longevity to swimming, eating lots of fruits and vegetables, hot tea and a love of murder mysteries.
Her caretaker of three years, Magda Jean Noel, 43, is amazed by Beall’s resilience and positive outlook.
“I’m so blessed to work with Marjorie,” she says. “It’s an honor.
“She always tells me to eat tomatoes and vegetables and to buy only what I can afford,” she says. “She’s so humble and loves people. You can see and feel it.
“Marjorie has a real heart,” Noel says.
These days, Beall reads and watches TV in her room and joins the other residents for meals in the dining hall.
“I’m very thankful I’m still here,” Beall says by phone from her room at MorseLife.
Due to Hurricane Debby’s hitting South Carolina in August, her son wasn’t able to attend her 104th birthday party, thrown by the staff.
Does Beall have any birthday wishes? “To keep going a little longer,” she says. “I’ve almost reached the end of the road.”
She recalls traveling the world with her family and husband (“hundreds of thousands of miles”).
“He promised that if I followed him, he would bring me back to Florida for my golden years,” she says. “Palm Beach County has always been where my heart is.
“I’m truly blessed.”
Jan Engoren writes about health and healthy living. Send ideas to jengoren@hotmail.com.
Comments