Community Corner

A Lifetime of Memories

Merwick's oldest resident celebrates her 104th birthday.

Not many people can say they have known First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt personally, but Beatrice Ellerstein can. 

Ellerstein, who celebrated her 104th birthday at Merwick Care & Rehabilitation Center on Friday, Aug. 19, remembers the day Mrs. Roosevelt walked into the Red Cross in Queen, N.Y. where Ellerstein was a volunteer. 

“I wanted to do my part and help take care of the men coming home from the war,” said Ellerstein. As part of a canteen team, she served the first home-cooked meals to returning servicemen. 

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She also became a member of the Motorcorps, where she drove emergency vehicles and provided transportation for injured veterans. 

“One day, First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt came to our station in Queens and asked for the best driver we had so she could visit all of the hospitals in the tri-state area,” Ellerstein said. “I knew the area better than anyone, so she kicked out her usual chauffeur, and I was chosen to drive Ms. Roosevelt around to all of the different hospitals for the next three days. Ms. Roosevelt was a very wonderful woman; she even took me and the rest of my team out for lunch after we were done every day.”

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The first lady invited Ellerstein to visit her at the White House, but Ellerstein she never made it She had several pictures of herself Eleanor Roosevelt, but those were destroyed in a hurricane several years later. 

Decades later Ellerstein can still recall meeting the first lady and how gracious she was. 

But on Friday, Ellerstein was firmly planted in the present as her friends and Merwick staff gathered in the second-floor cafeteria and presented her with a giant birthday cake, balloons and a rousing rendition of "Happy Birthday."

"It's so wonderful to be here and celebrate with Beatrice on her 104th birthday," Merwick Administrator Ken Keegan told the assembled crowd. "Beatrice, have a happy birthday and many, many more."

Merwick, which moved from Princeton to Plainsboro at the beginning of the year, offers both short-term and long-term rehabilitation services and has residents ranging in age from 55-104. 

Beatrice is the oldest resident at the facility and Keegan said he hopes she'll reach 105. 

Staff members say Ellerstein breezes through daily crossword puzzles. 

The former Ewing resident moved into Merwick's long-term care facility only a few weeks ago, but she had previously had a short-term stay last year after she fell and broke her arm. 

When it came time for her to find long-term care, she felt comfortable at Merwick so it was a natural choice to move in. 

On Friday, Ellerstein's only son, Stuart, 84, sat by his mother's side. Stuart is a former longtime Princeton resident.

“I have experienced many exciting things,” Beatrice Ellerstein said. “I personally knew First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt, and I decorated a home for a Canadian ambassador, but above all I have a wonderful family who cares about me very much. I have a lot of good memories to look back on, but today I am glad that I am able to celebrate with my family and my Merwick family.”

Meeting the first lady was quite a coup for Ellerstein, who was born and raised in Brooklyn, N.Y. with her three older sisters. Passionate about the arts, Ellerstein  attended the School of General Studies at Columbia University and was accepted into the theater program, although her mother would not allow her to daughter to be on stage. 

Ellerstein married in 1927 and while her husband worked, she volunteered with the Red Cross. 

After 18 years at the Red Cross and at age 50, Ellerstein opened an interior design shop in the Abraham & Strauss department store in Hempstead, N.Y.  

She worked with New York clients, government officials and also a foreign diplomat.

“I received a call from the Canadian Ambassador to Nigeria asking me to decorate his new home in Nigeria,” she said. “Of course I accepted the job, and soon after, I had the blueprints to his home, and he and I were walking down the aisles of the store picking out all of the furniture and fabrics. It was a little difficult having to do the job without seeing the home, but I got everything picked out and ready to ship with the ambassador and his family when they left for Nigeria. He was a very happy customer.”

Beatrice continued doing interior design for 18 years until she retired. In 2000, she moved to Ewing Township to be closer to her only child, Stuart Ellerstein, who lived in Princeton. 

Besides her son, Beatrice Ellerstein is also blessed with three grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren. 


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