82. Live to 100: 101-Year-Old Olga Genersich Shares Longevity Secrets, Lessons, & Tips for Living Well.

What’s the secret to living a long life—and more importantly, a meaningful one?

At 101 years old, Olga Genersich has lived through over a century of change, challenge, love, and growth. In this powerful episode of Joy of the Hang, she shares her perspective on longevity, healthy aging, life lessons, and what truly matters in the end.

This isn’t about quick fixes or longevity hacks. It’s about the kind of wisdom that only comes from living—fully, deeply, and over time. Olga reflects on love, loss, resilience, relationships, and the small everyday choices that shape a life well-lived.

Her words are simple, honest, and unforgettable.

In this episode, we explore:
-How to live to 100 (and beyond)
-Longevity secrets from a 101-year-old woman
-Life lessons you can apply at any age
-The truth about happiness, resilience, and aging
-What really matters at the end of life
-How to live a meaningful, connected life

If you’ve ever wondered how to live longer—or how to live better—this conversation will stay with you.

🎧 Follow Joy of the Hang on Apple, Spotify, or YouTube
💛 Share this episode with someone you love—because the best conversations are the ones we pass on

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Welcome to Joy of the Hang. Let me ask you something. What would you do differently if you knew you were going to live 100 years? No, not just hope for it, not just imagine it, but actually live it. Because the truth is almost none of us will. Only two out of every 10,000 Americans will reach the age of 100, which means most of us will never sit across from someone who has lived an entire century of life. But today, you are. She has lived through world wars. Cincy. That's right. I see it. I want to know why you're called Cincy. We'll get to that. She has lived through world wars, profound loss, extraordinary love, and more change than most of us can even comprehend. She's seen the world before television, before the internet, before we carry distraction in our pockets. And right now in schools across the world, children are studying the world wars. But for Olga, also known as Cyncy, this isn't history. It's her life. She was in Budapest, Hungary during World War II. She fell in love and married a Hungarian soldier in 1944. That's the year my mom was born, 1944. Yeah. At just a professional uh uh soldier, not just a soldier.

SPEAKER_03 1:32

He was a professional, so he was trained. Um Akademiara, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:37

West Point grad.

SPEAKER_00 1:38

Oh, he was a West Point grad.

SPEAKER_03 1:41

Yes, that's why I mean and five years older than I was. Oh, well, nothing wrong with that. Three months later. Somehow in a w in a summer vacation or so. He has seen me, and uh he thought what was I going to say? Yes, he has seen me, and he said he was five years older than I was, yeah. And he said, Well, that girl will be the mother of my children.

SPEAKER_01 2:14

Oh.

SPEAKER_03 2:15

When he saw me. The first time we we never even knew each other. Uh he was five years older, he was a student, and I was also a student, and that's what he said. And that's exactly what happened. And then three months later?

SPEAKER_00 2:33

And then a few months later he died. He died in the war.

SPEAKER_01 2:36

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 2:37

Yeah. So he was killed in service on the Russian front. You became a widow.

SPEAKER_03 2:42

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 2:43

A refugee, and without even knowing it yet, a mother to be.

SPEAKER_03 2:47

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 2:47

You were pregnant.

SPEAKER_03 2:48

Yeah. And my daughter was born in Germany at uh uh oh my gosh, the place is so well known. Oberammergau. Oberammergau. Oberammergau. It's very close to Garmisch, which is a famous winter resort, Garmisch Partenkirchen.

SPEAKER_00 3:10

Okay. Very interesting. So today we're talking about the life behind the years, the regrets, the proudest moments, the relationships that carry her, and the lessons we're all meant to learn if we're willing to listen. But if we're lucky enough to grow old, the question isn't will we get there? It's who will who will we become along the way? So let's go back. You ready? First of all, how'd you get the name Cincy?

SPEAKER_03 3:38

My oldest grandson called me. Um well he heard it once before or a couple of times before. My husband called me Since. Um, his father.

SPEAKER_00 3:51

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 3:51

And then so it stayed with the grandchildren, so they call me Cincy.

SPEAKER_00 3:56

Oh, it's easier to stay say, maybe, huh? It's fun to say, Sincy. Does it mean anything?

SPEAKER_03 4:03

Uh it means my loved one.

SPEAKER_00 4:05

Oh, I like that. My loved one. That's beautiful. Can you take us back to Budapest during World War II and what do you remember most vividly? For which time? World War II? World War II? Yeah, what do you remember about that?

SPEAKER_03 4:23

First of all, you tell me when it was 45.

SPEAKER_00 4:26

In the for yeah, 1944, 45.

SPEAKER_03 4:28

44, 45. Um, I was a student and I was mainly really occupied with the school. My father, my family was not in any politics. Uh my father worked for the railroad 38 years, and um so he they didn't have any politics in the house. Because it would be probably um disturbing his job where he worked.

SPEAKER_01 5:00

Okay.

SPEAKER_03 5:01

And he worked for the rail railroad, which was uh um not person not personal, but it was motivyak. Uh state worked for the state.

SPEAKER_00 5:18

Oh, he worked for the state, okay.

SPEAKER_03 5:20

Yeah. And so there was no politics in our house.

SPEAKER_00 5:25

That's good. Yeah. I wish it was like that today. It was a tough time.

SPEAKER_03 5:30

Tough time all around. Yes. Yes. So they were not, and uh my father was mainly as I knew him when he I was about five or six years old, that he was a sportman. And he was uh a r um judge for uh sport events, and he stayed that also that was he worked for the government, for not for the government, for the uh Voshutra.

SPEAKER_02 6:02

The rail railway system.

SPEAKER_03 6:03

Railway system, yeah. So there was no politics in our house involved that a child would hear roughly um coming and going, but they didn't because my father was a sportsman. That was his main uh entertainment or interest, and later on he became a well-known umccer. Soccer referee. Referee.

SPEAKER_00 6:39

Referee. A soccer referee. So soccer football like soccer like European. European football, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 6:46

Okay, yeah, yeah. So that's what his main interest was personally. And otherwise he was a wonderful person, a beautiful man also, really. And uh he was really involved more in sport um than anything else. How old did he live to be? Not too old, I think uh 69, maybe 69.

SPEAKER_00 7:15

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 7:15

Do you have siblings? I have a sister. You have a sister? Yeah. Yeah. And uh she's five years younger than I am. And also we are friends, but not uh not to every detail.

SPEAKER_00 7:33

Oh, okay. Can't tell her everything.

SPEAKER_03 7:37

That's in other words, we have to be uh concerned about what we are talking about because we are many different opinions. Okay. She lived, you know, further on, continued in Hungary, and I left, so our world was a little bit different. That makes sense. Where does she live now? She's still living, she's 96 and lives in a very nice retirement um center. I couldn't tell you the name of it, but it is in a very beautiful location, and she is she cannot walk anymore. Okay, so she's bedridden.

SPEAKER_00 8:16

You have good genes though. You're both living to a very 96. I see. Yeah, it's fantastic. That's wonderful. Something's good's going on over there in Hungary. That's great.

SPEAKER_03 8:30

So we had a very uh satisfactory and peaceful childhood, and that means a lot. In my early years, like five or six years old, I remember one instance. Uh, we were waiting for my father to come back come back from Holland, and he was delayed, so he came a little bit, I don't know, day or two days later. And I remember then when I heard that my father was involved in sport and in football.

SPEAKER_01 9:06

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 9:07

And he was a referee.

SPEAKER_01 9:09

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 9:10

And at the end there were seven chosen who were um involved in international plays that they were called. And that was one of my father, too, out of the seven. And it stayed also like that. And um I have a big tableau with all the people, you know, with the sport at that time, and uh which meant that he was often not at home because he had to be involved, and that took uh quite a lot of time for him, but he was very involved. Uh Turekwish Wolf was the uh the name of that sport uh that he belonged to. Turekwish, yeah. I don't really know too much about it.

SPEAKER_00 10:06

Motivation? You're very proud of your father.

SPEAKER_03 10:10

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 10:10

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 10:11

I had a not only beautiful father, but also a very soft uh you couldn't do anything but love him. He was so good. Oh, that's lovely.

SPEAKER_00 10:28

Tell me about your first husband, the one that was killed in the war. Tell me more about him. What made you fall in love?

SPEAKER_03 10:35

It was a very interesting situation. Okay. I was about, I think, 13 years old or 14, and with my classmate, we were walking home under the the viaduct of a train. And across from us came three young men. They were uh from high school already graduated, and they came across facing us. I didn't know anybody, but my my classmate knew them. And uh they were five years older than we were, so there was no dating stuff like that, you know, at that time. And uh so these five, three, I think three men or five, I don't know now. Well, anyway, we started talking, and he told me before he left, there was maybe five, ten minutes that we were talking about something. And before he left, he pointed his finger and he said, That girl will be the mother of my children. That was my first husband.

SPEAKER_00 11:54

He never got he never got to meet his child.

SPEAKER_03 11:58

No, never got to meet his child. That's life. Yeah. So it's up and down, but you have to be strong enough not to complain all the time. I learned that especially young not to complain because it doesn't hurt um maybe the other person so much as it hurts your soul. Because you want to achieve something by um influencing somebody with your questions, and uh it hasn't been like that. So you have to accept the conditions that you are in, how much strengths you can um afford to continue that uh conversation. Because if you just want to be, you know, tinky tanky, you are not sure about things, then better stay uh calmer. And this would be also open an opportunity for personally, if we are debating even two of us, to have a little more little bit more attention and also more patience for the questions and for your answers. Because my mother was about, we were reading, she was reading with me quite often from children's book, and one of them I remember, there was under the ending of the story, there was a question. What did you learn about this? What was your impression? This was reading to me like five years old. And so I didn't know exactly maybe what my mother wanted to know, what kind of a question I I understood the question, but I didn't I wasn't ready to answer the right way. And so she said I was mumbling around, so she said, don't worry, just stay calm and take your time, think it over. You don't have to kick up near Valo Smith, kick up me. Spit it out. You don't have to spit out exactly right away. Stay a minute, think it over, and then maybe you can even ask a question before you give an answer. So that was my mother's calm down situation that she tried to uh tell me at the age of five or six, yeah, by reading the story, that you don't really need to rush and bumble about, but think a little bit. They will understand it that you took a little time and don't feel um ashamed that you cannot answer right away. So that was a very good answer by my mother.

SPEAKER_00 15:06

Yeah, that's a great lesson for sure.

SPEAKER_03 15:08

Because I am a slow poker and a slow thinker.

SPEAKER_00 15:13

There's nothing wrong with that, especially today where everything is so immediate for you to actually pause and take your time.

SPEAKER_03 15:21

And it can mean a lot of things in your life's decision, because we are really faced all the time to make a decision, either just for myself or even compare it with others. You know, answers.

SPEAKER_00 15:37

You have such a great memory. I can't remember anything from when I was five. That's I'm so impressed.

SPEAKER_03 15:43

I remember my father was a um Brothers or a referee.

SPEAKER_00 15:50

Oh, when he was a referee, you remember that, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 15:53

Yes, and he was on the international stage. There were seven of them. Yeah. They were, you know, called to other sc uh countries also. My father traveled quite often.

SPEAKER_00 16:08

How fun though? Did you get to go to any of the games?

SPEAKER_03 16:12

Not myself so much, but my sister. My sister really enjoyed it. So you didn't enjoy it so much, yeah. I didn't enjoy it so much. Yeah, I thought it was too long.

SPEAKER_00 16:25

Even though I am a slow poke, I am not. That was too slow. The games were too slow. I like the games though. They're fun, especially when you go in person.

SPEAKER_03 16:37

Yes, yes, and then you have to have a little bit more understanding behind it too.

SPEAKER_00 16:42

Right.

SPEAKER_03 16:42

What you're talking about. Yeah, and cheer your dad on. That's great. And I also, another thing, um having, you know, girls are always have girlfriends, and uh who has more girlfriend and more well-like than I am, or whatever like that, between teenagers, and I didn't find that necessary. I thought it was more necessary that you have before you begin really a friendship, by that I mean that you talk about more subject, even personal sub items, with my girlfriend than just blah blah blah. So I only had three wonderful lifetime-long friends. And one was from Austria, and the other one was from Germany, and we stayed friends as long as they died. Wow, that's beautiful. We visited each other and we corresponded. At that time, you know, not so many telephone calls like today, but correspondence, and then we were inviting each other to each other's home. I had Austria by Graz, my very good girlfriend, and then another one in Vienna, and uh the third one was my classmate in gymnasium. So how did you meet these women? Um, through traveling. My family was a traveling bunch of people, really because of my father. So we got, and my mother did also go with him. He was a referee, football referee. And uh well known also later on, between five or seven of them. I heard one day, not directly from my father, but somebody who was sitting at the uh with them. My father said maybe he has been invited close to 90 times to be an on on uh um the judge on plays between nations.

SPEAKER_01 19:05

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 19:05

Maybe 90 times.

SPEAKER_00 19:07

Yeah. Do you know a lot of times referees here are booed, right? They're not liked very well.

SPEAKER_03 19:13

It happened also to me. That's when he stopped, and that has been, or he has been in it maybe 30 years, and then he stopped. This was a uh game in Vienna, and he didn't agree with that. Whatever it is.

SPEAKER_00 19:32

It was a bad call, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 19:33

Yeah, yeah. So then he finished. And my father was a a beautiful person, very nice looking, handsome guy. Such a handsome.

SPEAKER_00 19:44

So you get your good looks after your dad, is that what you're telling us? Because you look beautiful for 101. I hope I look as good as you. So, to what do you think you owe your longevity and your long life? Peace in your soul. Peace in your soul.

SPEAKER_03 20:02

And how does one get peace in their soul? Don't be jealous of anybody. No, no jealousy at all. It he had a good job, be happy about it. That he it makes him happy. He should be a valuable person to your company or to whatever company, but don't be jealous. It doesn't help you. And you don't have to think like that, that I am jealous. But if I have too many times I am thinking about a certain sub-object or subject, that pic will become pressurized to you. So just take it over, read a little bit more about them, and then see what things are going on, and then you can tell your opinion if they ask you. What about your health? How did you stay so healthy all these days? I tell you something, and I would wish this to anybody, believe me. We uh first we just managed a motel of 22 apartments, wonderful, beautiful apartments in Sarasota. The name of it was Sunset Terrace Apartments. And close to Ringley Museum. Okay. And uh we had uh we managed it for 33 years.

SPEAKER_00 21:32

Wow.

SPEAKER_03 21:33

That's a long time.

SPEAKER_00 21:34

That is a long time.

SPEAKER_03 21:35

30 or 33. No, I don't, I am not so sure. So we lived on premises. We were working all day on our feet, like I really say on our feet, because we had been on five acres. Beautiful five acres. Still there. Beautiful. Close to Ringley Museum on 40 acres. So we were always working on our feet for the 33 years. From 6 a.m. from my husband when he did start the uh the laundromat, and myself from 9 o'clock when I started the office, and also going and doing cleaning in rooms when we were expecting guests to come, you know, soon, and the girl he needed help, then I helped her in the finish. We had room, not rooms, we had apartments, 21 apartments and two overnight rooms. A beautiful uh situation. Very nice, well kept, with orange trees and and uh uh citrum trees on the land. We had three uh duplex apartments behind the buildings. We had seven buildings on that uh the tourist, they stored it down, not torn down since terrible.

SPEAKER_00 23:10

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 23:12

But anyway, uh we spent wonderful working years always on our feet, and now it comes why I could do it, why I could do it. Every morning I was on the floor at that time, later on on top of my bed. I was doing exercises about 15 or 20 minutes, and I showed several people, friends, the exercises. It took about 15 minutes, maybe 20, but 15 for sure. I did it on the floor later on on top of my bread, my bed. And my legs were up and up and up and up and down and down. Yeah. This is what I did.

SPEAKER_00 23:57

Okay, every day.

SPEAKER_03 23:58

That's kept me every day.

SPEAKER_00 24:00

So you started your day. And then you were on your feet all day. Yes, and on the feet all day on our flat feet, not high. You weren't wearing high heels like me? You didn't have these three-inch.

SPEAKER_03 24:14

Oh, to go out, yes, to go out and date.

SPEAKER_00 24:16

Yeah, I can't even. I know they're cute, but you can't work in those for anything. Can I tell you something else? Can't clean rooms.

SPEAKER_03 24:23

What made my life so wonderful? My jobs were unbelievably good. My lifetime long I worked, and I'm selling the truth, University of Chicago Law Library. That was my work. You worked there? I don't know how many years. Seven years at the beginning and later, nine years continued at Kendall College, which was a junior college in Evanston, Illinois, um, very close to Northwestern University. So I have been always with young men in school. In the 50s. Okay. Yeah. Wow. And I had a wonderful job. They appreciated me because I was I was talking to other languages. German, I am still very well in it, and French. My French, I was so disappointed because I had graduated also from French, French and German in gymnasium.

SPEAKER_01 25:36

Okay.

SPEAKER_03 25:37

And uh we were visiting uh in Paris, I don't know, 20 years later or 25 years later with my husband, and I couldn't understand a word. I said, how could this happen? Why don't I understand? I graduated from six years French, and I had a very good school where I went.

SPEAKER_01 26:00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 26:09

Wow. In in uh and then you forgot your French. In Evanston, and I forgot my French.

SPEAKER_00 26:16

I did the same thing. I took four years in college and I couldn't I couldn't write either or speak it.

SPEAKER_03 26:23

So then so then No, that's your mom's okay, okay. So that meant that I am I speak German very well and uh French I completely lost. However, when we were visiting Paris for five days with my husband years later, and I told him, I said, why don't second day I said, why don't we go and sit outside in the park? Because everybody is sticking in the big, big parks and having coffee forever.

SPEAKER_00 26:59

Yeah. And that's my favorite part of Paris. The cafes.

SPEAKER_03 27:03

Yes, the cafes, and maybe listen to them. And I said, if we would stay here three months, I it would come back. Yeah, it's true. That's true. But you see, I learned the languages with grammar. You have to know the grammars. Otherwise, you can talk kitchen language. Yeah. Right. Which is also fine. Right. But otherwise you have to do the grammar.

SPEAKER_00 27:27

So now we're talking about your second husband. Where did you meet him? Oh, we've got a little chuckle. Uh-oh. Has your son heard this story?

SPEAKER_03 27:47

Unbelievable. Yes. It was in Ober America. In a refugee camp. There were camps all over, very well organized, well set up, very well uh appreciated because we had every day one warm uh meal. Warm meal on the road even. And uh and then the rest of them were sandwiches. But this was all sponsored by America. We knew that otherwise you could not have, you know. Done that, these were from 44, 45, 46, and on. Today, even today, there are um camps that people would love to um get some in some country. It was a long stiff. So my second husband I have to really think. I think my daughter was born in Ober America. I think. And that was we were living in camps, in uh refugee camps, really refugee camps for years because these people all wanted to go to the west away from the Russians. Many, many, I tell you, from Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, I think the whole country just was fleeing. Fleeing, and that gave me the idea actually, because we were already on the road going to the going to the West away from the Russians, because it was Russian occupation, as you know, in Hungary for 42 years. And that was not easy. No. Absolutely not easy. Everybody was really suffering. But there is not much talking about it anymore. But it was tough because my parents were at home. They they stayed and they never went anywhere. They didn't want to go, they didn't want to uh leave the country. But anyway, a day my my grand my my family sent me with my grandmother to a location for a summer uh vacation in close to Hot One called a little little whatever what was it called? Uh Kit a Pustara. What is that? Peter. Farmland countryside. Really in the farmland, in the countryside, yeah. We stayed with the owners, we had a nice time, my grandmother was with us, plus my my my sister was becoming a teacher, and she needed to have uh um uh piano lessons, so even our piano was taken down to the three-month summer vacation.

SPEAKER_00 31:20

Oh, it was oh my gosh, how'd you bring that down there? Oh my gosh.

SPEAKER_02 31:26

Unbelievable. Really?

SPEAKER_00 31:30

It would have been easier.

SPEAKER_03 31:31

So we were spending the time at H8, which was close to Hotwan, a bigger city, and when we came home going to school, what did I see? Maybe all the Lithuanian and Estonian countries, they all came on the road. Uh there were no cars, only doctors have autos, had autos. Personal people didn't, or you know, the government officials they did. Right. But otherwise, all our road was right on the car, on the car road, not on the sidewalks. Unbelievable. And I thought to myself, the country is go what is going to happen? All these Lithuanian, Estonian, and you can check on them, they were f completely freeing away from the Russians.

SPEAKER_01 32:28

Wow.

SPEAKER_03 32:29

And I was in there, I saw that in there, and I thought to myself, when these countries are going, leaving their country, giving up everything behind, then better I go too. And this is how I got out.

SPEAKER_01 32:44

Okay.

SPEAKER_03 32:45

I went the same way. Yeah. So you left your family behind? I left the family behind, yeah. And I didn't come back. I couldn't come back home for 27 years. Otherwise, they would not let me come back again, as it happened to some people. They were um inter uh interrogated about everything. They were kept for one to two years before they could come back to America.

SPEAKER_00 33:16

So you left and where did you go from there? Where did you end up? Yeah, I remember. You were in a refugee camp?

SPEAKER_03 33:25

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 33:26

And is that where you met your husband?

SPEAKER_03 33:28

W way after that. After that? Yeah. He was a doctor in the in the camp, one of three doctors.

SPEAKER_01 33:36

Oh wow.

SPEAKER_03 33:37

And when my daughter was born in Ober-Amergau, well, the three doctors were not always the same. They were changed from one camp to the other camps. So you never knew which doctor came, but they were okay. So then when I uh I she was born in Oberamergau, and the third person was Dr. Korbouli. There were two other doctors before. And Dr. Corbulli became my second husband.

SPEAKER_01 34:12

Wow.

SPEAKER_00 34:13

Where was he from? Was he American?

SPEAKER_03 34:17

He's a well-known doctor.

SPEAKER_01 34:19

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 34:20

27 years older than I was.

SPEAKER_01 34:23

Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_03 34:24

Can you imagine?

SPEAKER_01 34:26

Wow.

SPEAKER_03 34:26

And I had to make the this make the uh, how shall I say, he didn't have to change. I had to change. To know what what how to handle an older man.

SPEAKER_00 34:43

Oh gosh. It wasn't easy. Men aren't easy, period. Doesn't matter how old I are. No more questions. No more questions. No more questions. No more questions. Okay. No, the interview's not over yet. You're not getting off that easy. There's a lot more I want to know.

SPEAKER_02 35:05

Oh boy, oh boy.

SPEAKER_00 35:07

So where did you live after that? So what happened then? Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 35:12

Well, we were in the camp for a number of years. And then we could sign up to countries where we wanted to go immigrate, migrate, I mean. And you had to wait really long. Some people had to wait ten years long. Every week on the bulletin board, they put up the countries that would be able to accept uh so many refugees. Well, they had to go under the quota, not like today. So we we were in Hungarian, so we had to wait. This was 160 a year. That's all. They would accept 160. Yeah, 160.

SPEAKER_00 35:57

Wow. And how many people were in the refugee camp, do you think? Oh my gosh. Thousands.

SPEAKER_03 36:03

Well, they were all over.

SPEAKER_00 36:05

Wow.

SPEAKER_03 36:06

And we were just lucky that we were under the American sector because there were Russian and uh French and American. We all hoped and was praying that we will we can get there and we'll get in Ober America. We just that was the last stop. 130 of us were in that group. And we arrived, and how it happened that they uh the few people who were organizing and uh um they had to how shine Fidaltak Vidyastok a choportra. Overseeing. Overseeing the groups. Yeah, overseeing the groups, they always had to keep, you know, the name, not the names, but the numbers. So the last group was 130 that I remember. And this was in, I think, over America, but I am not so sure right now. And then uh the some who were uh responsible for us, they went into the government correspond which uh there were no rooms. They did they didn't want to, but finally they accepted the restaurant opened up and we had to sleep on the floor and on the t not on the tables but on the desk, a podocor. And so this is how we got there.

SPEAKER_01 37:52

Wow.

SPEAKER_03 37:53

But we got into the American sector. Okay. Thank God. And that was the wonderful adventure. That's how you got to America eventually. Well what was your first impression when you saw American soldiers? Oh my gosh, I tell you. Do you know which which uh city it was? Oberamerga again?

SPEAKER_04 38:13

Yes.

SPEAKER_03 38:14

That was a very well known, famous town, Oberamerga. Uh there is a healing section there, Hochivyakukat, who my gosh, there is a sanatorium very famous there. Ah I don't remember right now.

SPEAKER_02 38:34

Anyway.

SPEAKER_03 38:51

You said they were very young.

SPEAKER_00 38:53

Oh, the American soldiers, they were very young when you first saw them. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 38:57

When they come and how I saw it, I was standing in the in the yards on the walkway with other people from the town, and the Americans came in, and I just opened my eyes, my God. I said, What are those? Can you imagine my first impression? What are those young kids? They look like 17, 18 years old on those huge, huge uh tanks. Tanks. Yeah what are they doing here? And that was the uh the occupation by the Americans. So I was standing right there when I saw that. Wow. Wow. Yeah. Your prayers have been answered, right? I tell you, I think I stayed that long. I think it had to do because I saw so much of history. Of world history.

SPEAKER_00 39:55

You did. You did.

SPEAKER_03 39:57

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 39:58

Yeah.

unknown 39:59

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 40:00

Unbelievable. And I said these 17, 18-year-old kids, what are they doing up? They looked so young. And you know what? Finally, much, much later we read that many of the newcomer boys were inducted from Elfoglot Hayekral.

SPEAKER_02 40:25

Other occupied areas?

SPEAKER_03 40:27

Yes. From unoccupied other little settlements. They were young, like oh my god, se 17, 18 years old, you know, you have to be 18.

SPEAKER_01 40:39

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 40:39

But that was a lot. And the American tanks came in front of me.

SPEAKER_01 40:46

Wow.

SPEAKER_00 40:47

Standing on the Well, you have to be 18, but back then a lot of those boys lied about their age, didn't they? Yeah. A lot of those boys were much younger. Yes, I think so. They were. They were.

SPEAKER_03 41:07

I think so too.

SPEAKER_00 41:09

So a lot of people would love to live to be a hundred. Tell me what you eat every day. Was there a special diet you follow? Yes. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 41:19

And the first one is the amount.

SPEAKER_00 41:21

The amount of food. Okay, we're talking about our special diet to keep you to a hundred.

SPEAKER_03 41:26

No. You don't have to have a special diet.

SPEAKER_00 41:28

No special diet?

SPEAKER_03 41:30

You have to you start out with a regular dinner table. Uh dinner plate. Okay. Next time you use a smaller dinner plate. Okay. So we just and finally you only lose this one in the middle. And that's all that you eat. No snacking here and there. I love the snack. You have to You have to give that up. Gotta give up the snacking. Okay. Maybe you can do a little snapping, snacking, but you have to me uh measure it out. So it's all proportionally. Okay. Just very little. This much. And I am still doing that.

SPEAKER_00 42:15

Do you eat breakfast, lunch, and dinner? Do you eat three meals a day?

SPEAKER_03 42:18

Yes, I do. Just a small portions. How much did small portions?

SPEAKER_00 42:23

But no snacks.

SPEAKER_03 42:24

Very little. No. However, I have a sweet tooth.

SPEAKER_00 42:29

Okay. And so what's your go-to treat? Is it cake, ice cream, chocolate?

SPEAKER_03 42:37

No. I don't buy the store uh cookies, store uh torta.

SPEAKER_01 42:44

Okay.

SPEAKER_03 42:45

They are just I don't yeah. Okay. Sorry to say that, but they are junk. Okay. I buy the little things, smaller things, and not don't have too much at home. Even in the fridge. Don't have too much. And the same thing comes with uh uh ice cream too.

SPEAKER_04 43:06

Okay.

SPEAKER_03 43:06

Don't ever overdo an ice cream. Just try it with a medium-sized one. It should be enough. Okay. Do you drink coffee or tea? I drank coffee 40 years long, and one day I told myself this was it. And I know And you stop drinking coffee.

SPEAKER_00 43:26

How about alcohol? Yes. You do drink alcohol? What what do you drink? Wine? Gin? What is I need to know what's gonna keep me young. Is it gin?

SPEAKER_03 43:38

My first specialty is always uh Michoda Peter.

SPEAKER_00 43:45

Gin? Uh gin and tonic tonic. Gin and tonic? Yeah. That's that's your first. And that's I like you mean that's your first drink of a day of a night? No, no. Okay. That's your first one. That's your favorite. You like the gin and tonic?

SPEAKER_03 44:00

Yeah, I like gin and tonic.

SPEAKER_00 44:02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 44:02

And I also like a little thing that's called Uyoyo. It's sweet. I mean it saratako kitshi. Hubertus. Hubertus. Hubertus.

SPEAKER_00 44:14

Okay. I don't know what that is.

SPEAKER_03 44:16

It's an atmosphere. But everything with portions.

SPEAKER_01 44:19

Okay.

SPEAKER_03 44:20

And don't have it around in many tables, sacks, and things. If you don't have it around, you will not uh desire to eat. So when I have sweets, and we also bake sometimes. I I am not baking anymore, but I did bake enough. And uh we only keep very little up front what you see, and then also we only took, you know, one slice, and sometimes when I had already taken twice, the third one I would love to, but then I only take the half of it. It's not big, you know, like this.

SPEAKER_00 44:58

Yeah. So you don't eat a lot of sugar, but you let yourself have a sweet now and then. Yeah. Yeah. I do. But not too often, yeah. Well, it's interesting because everyone's trying to live to be a hundred and they're trying to figure out what to eat and how often they have to be at the gym. Right? It's no when I am visiting, they ask what you want.

SPEAKER_03 45:20

I said, gin and tonic. Gin and tonic. Yeah, but not every day. But I like gin and tonic. And why, you know, Hungarian backgrounds, you have wonderful uh vines, but I never got hooked on it.

SPEAKER_00 45:37

Never got hooked on wine, yeah. I like some of it, but yeah, that's good. All right, Olga, I have a question. After a hundred years, do you have any regrets? Do you have any regrets in your life? Anything you look back on and say, gosh, I wish I had not done that, or I wish I'd done that differently.

SPEAKER_03 45:56

No, because my first uh uh first uh decision that I did, I did it right. And that was when I saw everybody fleeing, and I went with them. Yeah. This is what I felt. And I was really 18, no, 20 years old.

SPEAKER_00 46:13

And you were pregnant, and that was so brave.

SPEAKER_03 46:16

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 46:16

I was very brave.

SPEAKER_03 46:18

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 46:18

Did you go with a group? Did you know people when you left? Do you have friends that were with you?

SPEAKER_03 46:23

Yes, but no friends. I am not that close. Pussy pussy. I am not that, you know, that you have to do all this. And therefore, you know trocholoch me as a trocholas.

SPEAKER_02 46:37

Gossip.

SPEAKER_03 46:38

Gossip. I am away from gossip. I never talk about gossip.

SPEAKER_00 46:43

I love that.

SPEAKER_03 46:44

No, it's not worth any time spent with that gossiping. Really. I am not even ta talking too much. Uh you know, we have to talk long distance most of the time. And I am not doing um I never overdo it.

SPEAKER_00 47:02

Now, if you could speak to your younger self, what would you tell her?

SPEAKER_03 47:09

Don't be afraid. Don't be afraid of anything. Just keep yourself calm and think it over maybe two times, five times, but not more five, six times, then you should really make a decision. And and that decision you made, you should be happy about it. And if you are not happy, then try a better decision thinking next time, because you are not able to change anymore what you have decided with that session.

SPEAKER_00 47:43

Yeah, I like that.

SPEAKER_03 47:44

So don't uh because when you when you are dissatisfied, there's always something here. So I always need a peace in my soul. And on top of it, I am sorry to say, I am Catholic, but I don't always go to church. But I am Catholic and I I believe in God and I pray every day, and I also believe in a destination. And the destination comes as you are born.

SPEAKER_00 48:17

You think you're born with your destiny? Okay.

SPEAKER_03 48:20

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 48:21

Interesting.

SPEAKER_03 48:24

Many times.

SPEAKER_00 48:26

Tell me what you're most proud of in your life. Oh my gosh.

SPEAKER_03 48:33

I have three wonderful, wonderful grandsons. Unbelievable. They are both kind, nice, good workers. They all finished colleges and they have wonderful families. They are successful. And this is my my best accomplishment, I would say.

SPEAKER_01 49:00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 49:01

And I am really in good standing, even with all of them, and also with their wives. And I tell you something, maybe you never know. I told one of my grandsons, I told him three things, two different things. You have to show once you are married, and the men work all day and they come home and they plop themselves in the easy chair and in front of the TV, and you come home also from work. But you cannot sit down because your kids are waiting for you to dinner or supper, and you have to go right away into the kitchen and continue your work from job to homework. But your husband is sitting there and I know it well.

SPEAKER_00 50:04

That's funny.

SPEAKER_03 50:05

Don't worry about I told him, don't don't worry about them. They also had enough with, you know, their uh whatever appearance and whatnot, whatnot. Let them just do it. But I tell you something. When they come home and you sit in the oh, sorry, I told the husband. I told the husband, you always remember your wife with something, with very little things. You don't have to you don't have much money to spend. Stopping at Publix, go stop at the uh flower container and pick up one will cost you a dollar ninety or maybe two ninety. Don't worry about that. And then go home and then tell your wife. I passed by that I couldn't resist it. So I brought you and thinking you. Yeah. Many, many thanks for the wonderful dinners that you are cooking, even when they are only from the freezer, from the fridge, right, and from the store.

SPEAKER_04 51:12

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 51:13

It doesn't matter. She thought about you, and it's her job or her situation that you have to put food on the on the table. So and then never forget that she does, she has a job, and she is a mother, and she's a cook and whatever. So you own a lot. You own a lot to her. How can you thanks for that? With little things. Pick up a little things, a little flower, and put it on the dinner table in the corner. I thought it was so cute, so pretty, I brought it here for us to enjoy it. Do it at on the dinner table. The kids will love it, and never ever give that up holding your hands and sitting around.

SPEAKER_02 52:25

Because you add in a destination. And you were finding that nature.

SPEAKER_00 52:36

Little things mean the most. Even just a handwritten note. Even just a little post-it note, right? Just a handwritten note. Something small. I agree. Gratitude, it's so important. What moments in your life made you feel the most alive and happy and joyful?

SPEAKER_02 53:28

We had to wait for So I called my mother.

SPEAKER_03 53:40

Nobody was allowed to come here on to the States because Russians were here. And uh I I told my mother, can you come? Maybe we can meet you in Vienna That's what we did the first time. Maybe after ten years that I was gone. But coming back to Hungary 27 years.

SPEAKER_00 54:12

That brought you a lot of joy. That brought you a lot of joy going back to Hungary. Yeah. Your home. Wow.

SPEAKER_02 54:22

Wow. Yeah. And then also we were sitting there four years in the waiting room until they had to check all your papers that you are not a communist or whatever.

SPEAKER_00 54:41

It was not easy. But you made it through. Yeah. You have seen the world change in extraordinary ways.

SPEAKER_03 54:52

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 54:53

What amazes you most about today?

SPEAKER_03 54:57

America.

SPEAKER_00 54:58

America amazes you most. In what way?

SPEAKER_03 55:02

Because it gives a home to everybody. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 55:06

That's beautiful. It's beautiful. People don't realize that. Yeah. What concerns you most about?

SPEAKER_03 55:13

And also they don't uh bug you around. They don't, unless you are in a politics.

SPEAKER_00 55:19

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 55:19

But they will take you, they will help you with everything, get a new life, get uh an apartment furnished. When we moved, oh my gosh, uh people who were coming earlier than we did, they had extra leftover tables, chairs, uh, pictures, whatever. They were so happy that they could bring us one piece here, one piece there. I am talking about coming to America. That they they love to see you, they were helpful, and they were they give you an opportunity to stand on your feet again. And also, especially when you talk English already, oh my gosh, you were really well, I didn't have only two years English before I came, because I knew always German nine years and French six years, but no English. So over there I uh started quickly to take English lessons, but two years are not enough. But I had wonderful jobs because I taught languages.

SPEAKER_01 56:33

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 56:33

I had I worked only for the University of Chicago Law Library for all those years.

SPEAKER_00 56:41

Wow. Wow.

SPEAKER_03 56:43

Marvelous thing, and always with young people. Students.

SPEAKER_00 56:49

Yeah. Oh, what a great job.

SPEAKER_03 56:51

So that kept me also, I think, uh alert.

SPEAKER_00 56:54

Yeah, for sure.

SPEAKER_03 56:55

Being with young people.

SPEAKER_00 56:57

What do you think of the internet?

SPEAKER_03 56:59

I am dumb.

SPEAKER_00 57:01

You are not dumb. I am dumb. If you're dumb, I'm dumb. I have a hard time with it too. Does life feel long or short when you've lived over a hundred years?

SPEAKER_03 57:15

I never think about that.

SPEAKER_00 57:16

You don't think about it? No. No.

SPEAKER_03 57:18

I am just thankful in my daily prayer.

SPEAKER_00 57:21

Okay.

SPEAKER_03 57:21

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 57:22

You don't think about your future. You just take one day at a time and live in the moment.

SPEAKER_03 57:27

Well, I watch my my doings. You know, I never did the silly things. And uh, well, life has learned, taught me to be a person, my experiences. I had a very good upbringing, very strict school, very good school, and um I couldn't complain. Even today, when I say my original studying um life, I can thank my first-year teacher in gymnasium. Her name was Dr. Rodak Olga. So when she accepted me to the school, she told me my little what do you call this when you have the same name? Ah, there is a word for it. Brusa.

SPEAKER_00 58:28

Brusa?

SPEAKER_03 58:28

Yeah. Okay. Come on, you are accept uh taken in in school because that's a seldom used name. Yeah. And it's so funny how I got this name. My mom, because I asked her, it's not happening too often. That you see, they had a very beautiful uh home in Budapest in in Buda, which was in a beautiful situation, still is, when my mother was born. We visited it a couple times, new owners, honey. Um very nice home. They uh made a third uh third floor of it too, two apartments, uh condominiums they have sold, and then this is my mother's birthplace, what I am talking about. And it's still standing, unbelievable, in good condition. Wow, and it's in Budapest in Buddha.

SPEAKER_01 59:36

Wow.

SPEAKER_03 59:36

Zugligat. Nice location. Appreciate what you have, don't mumble, you would like to have this, that. Appreciate. Try to see the best advantage of it, what you are in it, and be sure to be uh to have friends, girlfriends, boyfriends, whatever. Be uh honest, don't lie too much, and don't pretend too much. Be yourself.

SPEAKER_00 1:00:09

I like that.

SPEAKER_03 1:00:10

Then you will not obtain uh the condition that you have to be mad about him because he didn't like me, he left me for this and that. Just keep it calm. And I may mainly say it because you need this calmness in here.

SPEAKER_00 1:00:27

In your heart, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:00:28

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:00:29

Well, final question. You ready? Final question, Olga. If you could leave one message for future generations, what would it be?

SPEAKER_03 1:00:38

Jesus Maria. It would be a lot, but I cannot say a lot. And I am would I would talk to the mother and father of that child, and I would tell them, You brought this child in the world, you have to take all responsibility, especially now at the beginning, that you will have the right direction, not an overly done direction. You have to talk to them and don't forget to pray with them every meal. You take maybe not every meal, but if you want to, hold your hands together with the kids and adults. Do you know how much I heard it number of times through my life? Oh my God, if that would be good, we would always run home because it would be too much we have to run. You don't have to run. This is just there. You don't even do it at home. But it will stay your family also together. It doesn't take you hold your hand and you take a short prayer. It takes a minute. And even if not, sit around and listen to that and say it. Because you have to pray and thank your parents that they were able to supply your food and your education. Because it's not only food, it's education. And my God, with mother today, the kids are so sh so sharp from the TV. This is okay, but you have to control it. Don't let them stay at the TV too long. You better talk to the child. It will make an entirely different situation between you and your child. Your child will be really appreciative to you that you kept her informed. And that would start at the age of three. Three, age of three, not five. Because they are very smart from TVs and live and classmates and whatever. And don't feel sorry to spend ten or fifteen minutes with every child that you have separate. You can sit, bring a little ice cream or whatever, and sit with her ten or fifteen minutes. Anytime that you feel, you can grab him or her. And just be with him or her ten minutes that she she and he knows, yes, my mother is here, they will be for here for me. Because once they get in the front of the TV, my God. It's much harder.

SPEAKER_01 1:03:46

Yes.

SPEAKER_03 1:03:46

It takes you more work to do that early. And today the three-year-old are so smart already.

SPEAKER_00 1:03:56

So today we didn't just hear a story, we were entrusted with one. A life that began nearly a century ago, that endured war, loss, reinvention, and still chose gratitude. Only a handful of people will ever live to a hundred. But the wisdom Olga Sincy shared with us today, that's available to all of us right now. To love deeply.

SPEAKER_03 1:04:23

Yeah, but you have to say the last name too. Jennersick. Jennersick. Yeah. If people would like to have something. Yeah. G-E-N-E-R-S-I-C-H. G-E-N E-R-S-I-C-H. It's a German name. I love it. And it's a very good family. Olga.

SPEAKER_00 1:04:48

Gennersik has taught us to love deeply, to let go of what doesn't matter.

SPEAKER_04 1:04:53

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 1:04:54

To keep going even when life doesn't go as planned.

SPEAKER_04 1:04:57

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 1:04:58

Because if there's one thing a century of life teaches you, it's that time is both long and incredibly short.

SPEAKER_04 1:05:04

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 1:05:05

And in the end, it's not the years that define us, it's the people we love, the courage we show, and the meaning we choose to make along the way. So maybe today is a reminder to make the call, to have the conversation, to sit a little longer at the table. Yes. Because that's where life happens.

SPEAKER_03 1:05:25

Don't mind taking and rubbing away 15 minutes when you get home.

SPEAKER_01 1:05:31

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:05:31

Believe me. Yeah. It helps. And it will help also marriages. Because you know what it is. Uh each one, she and he also are exposed today with uh girls who are yeah. Yes. So you have to you have to also offer something before you sit down and and a and a peaceful surrounding when your husband comes home. I would even go and I would strike him. He's in his chair. I would strike him and I would hug him. Don't forget hugging. Huggings. Hugging, hold hands, kiss. Even huggings. Yeah. Yeah. Means a lot.

SPEAKER_01 1:06:20

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:06:21

If it means a lot. Because when the men come home they say I'm so tired, you know. I believe that. Oh, the telephones and whatever.

SPEAKER_01 1:06:29

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:06:30

They have not much time to pussy pussy you.

SPEAKER_01 1:06:33

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:06:34

But stay around. And go in the back and rub him back. It will pay.

SPEAKER_00 1:06:41

Goes a long way.

SPEAKER_03 1:06:42

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 1:06:43

Well I want you to know I am honored that you shared your story. I mean it, I'm honored that you shared your story with me today. Can I have a hug? I get a hug, yay! Thank you so much. Yes. Meant a lot to me. And thank you all.

SPEAKER_03 1:06:59

And I am a very honest person. I don't like to lie. I don't have too many friends, you know, close friends, girlfriends, I would say. I have three in my lifetime longs. I left at my lifetime long. They are both gone.

SPEAKER_00 1:07:15

But uh time to make new friends. It's time to make new friends. Say goodbye, Olga.

SPEAKER_03 1:07:22

Yeah, pussy pussy.

SPEAKER_00 1:07:24

I don't know what that means, but I kind of like it. Pussy pussy. Kisses, kisses, thank you. We have a different meaning for it here. So kisses, kisses, joy thing mah. Yeah. Yeah.