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Bethpage WWII veteran turns 100

Irene Haber celebrated her 100th birthday Tuesday in Bethpage with a parade of greetings from friends and community members. Credit: Newsday / Thomas A. Ferrara

For a moment, it seemed as if all of Bethpage and surrounding towns came out Tuesday to celebrate Irene Haber’s 100th birthday — a celebration the newly minted centenarian said she will keep in her heart.

Nassau police cars, trucks with the Bethpage fire department, and a motorcade of other vehicles honked horns while drivers cheered for the World War II Army nurse. The surprise birthday parade occurred at the Bethpage facility where Haber lives with others who are 55 and older.

“I was very, very surprised and impressed with everybody that showed,” Haber said in a phone interview Tuesday afternoon. “I didn’t expect all these people to come in and bring their cameras … I’ll keep this birthday in my heart.”

David Haber, 70, of Melville, said his mother was born in Duryea, Pennsylvania, on May 19, 1920. During World War II, Irene Haber worked for the Army in a facility in Maryland where the government studied germ warfare, her son said. The position entailed a thorough vetting by the FBI.

“One of her favorite stories is getting checked out by the FBI and passing with flying colors,” he said. “They came to her hometown, interviewed all these people who knew her, in a little town in Pennsylvania.”

In addition to her service to her country and reaching the 100-year milestone, Haber was also honored Tuesday for working as a nurse at Plainview Hospital when it first opened in 1962. Back then, it was called Central General, officials said. Hospital staff gave her a plaque Tuesday for her years on the job.

David Haber said his mother fell last year before her 99th birthday, but before that, she lived mostly independently at the Bethpage facility. He said the pandemic has been tough for his mother and him.

“Our favorite thing is for me to come over and get a kiss and give her a kiss and get hugs,” he said. “I come over and have a mask on. She understands. She’s a nurse.”

The celebration Tuesday invigorated his mother with an "outpouring of love," he said.

“I saw her smiling in a way that I haven’t seen in quite a while. She’s beaming.”

When she was asked about her secret to longevity, Haber laughed.

“I don’t know of any secret,” she said. “I just live every day and enjoy it.”

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