McHenry resident celebrates 105th birthday: ‘When you can eat, you need to take it’

Born in 1917, Sylvia Klosowski has lived through a great deal, including the Great Depression and two world wars.

So, when it came to the birthday cake celebrating her 105th year, she imparted a bit of wisdom to her friends and family that she picked up along the way: Eat up, because “when you can eat, you need to take it.”

She celebrated her 105th birthday on Friday in the company of people she loves, her friends and family. Klosowski, who lives at Alden Terrace of McHenry, cut the cake and reminisced on the years come and gone.

“Can you imagine, 105?” she asked the room. “Unbelievable.”

Born in 1917, just weeks before the U.S. entered World War I, Klosowski has lived through events that those of a certain age will only read about. At age 12, she saw the beginning of the Great Depression. The U.S. entered World War II when she was 24. President John F. Kennedy was assassinated when she was 46.

She also got to see Chicago blossom in her lifetime. George Klosowski, Klosowski’s stepson, said she’s lived in the Chicago area her entire life.

Coming of age during the Great Depression, she used to take the bus every week to Chicago World’s Fair, which ran from May 1933 to October 1934.

At the party Friday, George brought several souvenirs from the days of the fair, including tickets, priced at just 25 cents, an ashtray and a bracelet.

Sylvia Klosowski’s father owned a grocery store at the time and would help his neighbors in need, even to his own detriment, George Klosowski said.

“He was very, very generous,” George Klosowski said of Sylvia’s father. “He would never say no to people.”

Richard “Dickey” Machalinski, 78, is Klosowski’s nephew and said she raised him. He and his wife, Dawn, live in Oklahoma now, but they made the trip to celebrate the occasion, he said. Recounting some of her life, Machalinski said his aunt lived in a time where the alleys of Chicago were dominated by horses. Instead of maneuvering around potholes, residents dodged road apples, he said.

After she graduated high school, Sylvia went into advertising. It was during this time period she also met her first husband, Walter. They never had kids, but were married until his death.

After Walter’s death, she met her second husband, George Klosowski’s father, who coincidentally also was named Walter. Sylvia was Walter’s second spouse as well, his first wife also was named Sylvia. They were married for two decades until Walter’s death in 2004, George said.

Following his death, Sylvia was in her late 80s. She was able to live alone with the help of a caretaker, Pat Leinen, 82, of Woodstock. Leinen, who was her caretaker for north of a decade, said at the party that she never imagined celebrating 100 years with Sylvia when she took the case. Nevertheless, the birthdays kept coming, she said.

Working with Sylvia, Leinen said the centenarian was very particular about her hygiene, but wasn’t always careful about what she ate. Leinen said she has a sweet tooth, and enjoyed drinking a lot of coffee, preferring it strong and black. She also loved to go shopping, albeit of the browsing variety.

Leinen related a story about a time when Sylvia once hit another car in a parking lot. Sylvian asked the police officer who responded if she was going to jail. She was disappointed when she learned she wasn’t, because it was a place she’d never before been, Leinen said.

“She’s just a riot,” Leinen said. “She’s a very loving person.”

When asked Friday about what the root of her longevity, Sylvia demurred.

Her family does not have a history of extraordinarily long lives, those at the party said. Even today, while her eyesight and hearing aren’t the best, she still is “healthy as an ox,” Machalinski said.

Many in her family, however, speculated it’s how she values and treats people with high regard.

Dawn Machalinski, as well as others at the party, said they think it’s been the way she’s honored those around her in her lifetime, citing the Bible as saying that is a way to a long life.

“I feel like that’s a large reason why she’s done so well,” Dawn said. “She loves people.”

Her love of people was a theme that her friends and family at the party kept bringing up. She is a people person, and always had been, they said.

“There was never a time she wouldn’t stop and talk to others,” Richard Machalinski said. “She just loves people.”

George Klosowski agreed, saying that when they would go out to eat at a restaurant, it would often take a while to finally get out the door because she would say hi to everyone.

“She knew everybody who was sitting there,” he said. “She had to shake their hand and talk to them.”

Some advice a few people parted on Sylvia’s behalf came back to much of that same message: Be loving, kind, and care for others.

“Take one day at a time,” Bill Schifferer, 77, of Marengo, who is a friend of Machalinski’s, said. “She’s a survivor.”

To Sylvia, it’s the people who count in life.

“Listen to people, you can learn a lot,” she said.