RVC Maple Pointe's Ross celebrates 100th birthday

Maple Pointe Assisted Living in Rockville Centre now has two centenarians at its facility.

Frances Ross celebrated her 100th birthday on April 14 surrounded by family and friends. She also enjoyed a cake and live music from a barbershop quartet and received proclamations from New York State Senator Todd Kaminsky and Hempstead Town Councilman Anthony D’Esposito.

“It feels like 100,” she said. “I do a lot of sleeping in my bedroom.”

Ross, who outlived all of her younger siblings, believes she has the secret to living a long life.

“I tribute my longevity to apple cider, vinegar and honey,” she said. “It’s not a secret. It’s been know since I was 90 and I drank that instead of taking medicines. It definitely helps.”

Ross was born in 1917 on the Lower East Side in New York City and lived a majority of her life in Brooklyn. She never graduated high school, but still felt she had the mind of a college student.

“I was smart in many ways,” she said. “Common sense is not common.”

She was married to her husband Michael for 37 years until his passing in the late 1970s at age 57. The couple were career photographers for 30 years and specialized in weddings.

“We had a romantic, wonderful marriage,” she said. “I was three years older than him. I had a lot of beautiful stuff in my life.”

Among those beautiful things were her two children, four grandchildren and two great grandchildren. She been living at Maple Pointe since 1993.

Ross is the second Maple Pointe resident that is at least 100 years old. Sylvia Davis turned 107 on March 20.