Go ahead, make my b’day!
SIBLING REVELRY is the icing on this Bronx tale.
Evangelina Williams celebrated her 106th birthday Friday with cheerful colored balloons, sweet layer cake — and, best of all, her beloved sister, Amparo Perez, who turns 104 in June.
More than a century since sharing a bedroom as girls in Cuba, the women are happy being roommates at the Triboro Center for Rehabilitation and Nursing in the Concourse section of the Bronx.
They rank as No. 1 and No. 2 when it comes to seniority there.
Asked what she wanted most on her big day, Williams told the Daily News, “Peace and calm.”
A former dressmaker who boasted that she “made fine clothing” but now has arthritis, Williams credited her long life to never smoking or drinking and a “love for music.” Especially Julio Iglesias. Williams broke into a grin when his rendition of “Besame Mucho” came over a speaker in the event room where fellow residents and staff gathered for a party to mark her milestone.
Like her sister, Williams uses a wheelchair and is dealing with dementia.
The birthday girl also takes medicine for high blood pressure and suffers from vision problems. She wore purple sunglasses, which matched her crocheted poncho and tiara.
Williams has no children, but was married for 10 years, she said. She copped to having a “hot temper that flares up every now and then.” She’s not alone. After the group serenaded Williams with “Happy Birthday,” she leaned in to blow out candles on her chocolate and vanilla layer cake. But the trio of tiny tapers refused to go out.
So her sister lent a hand — and some lung power. The pair huffed and puffed and the flames at last went out.
A second later the “magic candles” ignited again, and the crowd cracked up.
Like the candles, Williams and Perez, with nearly 210 years of life between them, are made to last.