lmuthler@lockhaven.com

LOCK HAVEN –Good hard work, good friends and family, good Italian blood… and the good Lord.

That’s what has kept Monica Lapanna healthy and happy for nearly100 years.

Oh, she’s slowed down a bit as that remarkable milestone gets closer, but she’s still perky and smiles often as she enjoys a cup of hot tea and a cookie at the kitchen table while talking to friends and family… or her pet — a cockatiel she calls “Pretty Bird.”

Monica coaxes “Pretty Bird” to speak ... and he does, at times more that he should. LANA MUTHLER/THE EXPRESS

“He’s always talking back to me,” she said with a big smile, coaxing the yellow and white bird to speak to visitors. The bird has a prominent place in her kitchen, right beside the table and chairs, where he can easily be seen … and heard.

“I’ve had him for about three years,” Monica said, explaining that one of her “adopted” grandsons — Darren Muthler — got the bird for himself and then didn’t want it.

“Nobody wants him … so grandma gets him,” she said, smiling broadly.

Darren is one of Monica’s three “adopted” grandchildren. The others are Evan and Hannah, now-grown children of Monica’s long-time neighbors, David and Holly Muthler.

When the Muthlers moved next door, Monica and her husband John became friends right away.

At left, Monica’s brother Ralph visited his sister last year on her 99th birthday. Ralph will turn 97 in August. Below, Mary Louise Graziano, left, and Monica have been good friends for years. PHOTOS PROVIDED

And when the babies came, the couple, who had no children of their own, were delighted.

Monica said the Muthler kids have been a wonderful part of her life, especially after John died in 1990.

She still sees them often, as Hannah and Darren live nearby and Evan actually moved in with Monica about five years ago to help her with things she can no longer do around the house.

“They all call me ‘gram,’ she said, again smiling.

Monica,who was born and raised in Renovo, is one of eight children of Vito and Jennie Gentile. She quickly ran through the names of her brothers and sisters without hesitation — “Dominic, Frank, Cecelia, Mike, Nick, Grace and Ralph.

At left, Monica’s brother Ralph visited his sister last year on her 99th birthday. Ralph will turn 97 in August. Below, Mary Louise Graziano, left, and Monica have been good friends for years. PHOTOS PROVIDED

“There’s only me and Ralph left.” she added, looking at a photograph of her and Ralph taken in her kitchen on her 99th birthday, May 25, 2018, when Ralph, who lives in Brunswick, Ga., came to help her celebrate. “He’ll be 97 in August,”she said, wondering aloud if he’ll make the trip for her 100th this year.

“I was from Renovo and worked at Sylvania. John was from Lock Haven and worked at the Silk Mill. He went to St. Agnes Catholic Church; I went to Immaculate Conception,” she said, talking about her husband.

And somehow, somewhere they got together.

“Somebody introduced us,” Monica said flippantly, perhaps thinking about how and where she met the love of her life or the day they married on June 2, 1956 in Immaculate Conception Church, Lock Haven. They moved into their home at 829 Bellefonte Avenue shortly thereafter and she’s still in that same home, which certainly holds a lot of wonderful memories.

Family photos adorn the walls of the living space and more are displayed on tables. She quickly identifies those pictured — her husband in his Army uniform and others of she and John as a young couple taken here and there.

“This was taken at the church just before John died in 1990,” she said, showing the framed photo of the happy smiling couple.

And on the refrigerator there are pictures of the Muthler kids… and grandkids. Hannah now has two daughters, Hayla, 6, and Iris, 1, who are front and center on the freezer door.

Monica said she moved from Renovo to go to work at Sylvania in Mill Hall. She worked there for 19 years, then went to work at Bobbie Brooks for seven years. She retired at age 62 after five years at Woolich Woolen Mills.

After they married, Monica said she and John attended St. Agnes Church, where she continues to be as active as possible. The church has been a big part of Monica’s life. She’s been a volunteer doing whatever she could to help out for as long as she can remember.

That’s when the name Mary Louise Graziano emerged in conversation.

The two are best friends and have spent a lot of time together… mostly cooking at St. Agnes for the annual festival and other events.

“Raviolis,” she spouted. “We made raviolis… so many raviolis. Oh, we had lots of fun,” Monica said of she and Mary Louise’s job during the fair.

Monica still loves to cook.

She was quick to offer a homemade cookie from the cookie jar and a jar of homemade strawberry rhubarb jelly that she made.

Monica has cooked enough spaghetti in her lifetime to feed an Army… more than once or twice. She was among a group of ladies who cooked spaghetti every Friday night at the Sons of Italy for years. She doesn’t remember how many.

“Spaghetti, salad, three meatballs,” she said of the weekly menu she helped prepare and serve to hundreds of diners on Friday nights at the local club.

And there was a lot of pasta-making at home, too.

Monica is a real Italian cook. If it’s Italian she knows how to make it and make it good.

She even has a noodle machine and makes her own noodles.

“I’d freeze it and give it to my nieces and nephews,” she said of the large pots of pasta she often made.

At Christmastime, it’s Monica’s Italian donuts that are a big hit.

“I taught my niece how to make them,” she boasted.

Besides cooking, Monica also spent much of her post-retirement time at the sewing machine. She learned to sew at Bobbie Brooks and Woolrich and did a lot of alterations for people… even sewed some clothing now and then.

She laughed as she talked about altering a pair of pants for Hannah. “They were too short, so I added a piece of material on each leg,” she said, envisioning Hannah in the pants and laughing aloud.

Monica talked briefly about her family and growing up in Renovo.

“We had lots of fun as kids,” she said,

She talked about her brother, Nick, who left home a couple of times to ” xplore the world,” as a young teenager. “They always brought him back home… on the train,” she said.

“Then he went into the Army and changed his name. I guess he didn’t like the name Nick Gentile. He changed his name to James Duane. I don’t know where he got that name… I guess from a sign he saw somewhere,” Monica continued, again smiling as she spoke about the memories of a life now nearing 100 yers.

Asked what she attributes her long life to.

She thought for a few minutes and then replied.

“Good hard work, good friends and family and good Italian blood. I guess God has his reasons,” she said, again offering a sweet smile.

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Editor’s Note: Donations in Monica’s honor may be made to a project to improve handicap access at St. Agnes Church, 3 E. Walnut St., Lock Haven, Pa.