Long Beach woman cheers 113th

Goldie Steinberg, a longtime resident of the Grandell Rehabilitation & Nursing Center in Long Beach, turned 113 last week, and the Grandell staff held a party so she could celebrate with her friends and family.

Steinberg is officially the 14th-oldest person in the world and ninth-oldest in the country, born on Oct. 30, 1900 in Kishinev, Romania, known today as Chisinau, Moldova.

One of eight children, she immigrated to the United States in 1923, after her uncle offered her and her sister the opportunity. She and her husband, Phillip Steinberg, who died in 1967, lived in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn, and she remained in the same apartment for 72 years.

She worked as a seamstress, and the dress she wore to her birthday party was one she had sewed years earlier, said Moishe Heller, corporate administrator at Grandell. Steinberg has a son, a daughter, four grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren. She moved to Grandell in 2004 to be closer to her daughter, Anne Teicher, who lives in Hewlett.

Heller said the amazing thing about Steinberg isn’t just her age, but how active she is. He said she still tells stories and remembers many details of her life. And she is very strong-willed, Heller said. Steinberg loves to crochet, read the newspaper and root for the Yankees.

Heller said that she always puts others before herself. Steinberg once told him that when a person dies, the only thing that remains is the good name they build up. She takes care of younger residents — 90-year-olds, Heller said, and she is always concerned that everyone is getting served at meals, and makes sure everyone has their bibs on and is comfortable.

“She’s the president of the floor,” Heller said. “Everyone here treats her like their own grandmother.”

Last year, Steinberg’s birthday was interrupted by Hurricane Sandy. All of Grandell’s residents were forced to evacuate. The facility is a block away from the ocean, and Steinberg was unable to return for a month. When she returned after Thanksgiving, the staff threw her a belated birthday, but Heller said Steinberg was a bit rundown after all of the commotion of Sandy. But this year, she got her party, and she was in high spirits, he said.

“She’s like the energizer bunny,” Heller said.