On Friday, September 7, 2018 Alcoeur Gardens Residential Alzheimer’s and Dementia Care Community of Toms River proudly celebrated the milestone 100th birthday of one of our beloved residents, Mae Trustman. Surrounded by her family at Alcoeur Gardens, food, gifts and entertainment provided by Ellen Fazio, Mae couldn’t stop smiling and neither could we.

Mae was born on September 9, 1918 and raised in the bustling city of Brooklyn, NY. It was there in Brooklyn where Mae grew up and eventually met the love of her life, William, a machinist by trade. Once married, William and Mae moved to the beautiful countryside of High Falls, NY. It was there that Mae got a job as a waitress in a tea room. Mae worked a lot as this was the job she enjoyed the most as well as taking care of her husband The pair never had children and in their spare time they would travel all over the United States seeing its magnificent sights. One of the many stories Mae always shares is that William loved to Golf and that she would watch him occasionally play but didn’t share the same love of the sport. “Not her cup of tea,” Mae always says with a chuckle.

William and Mae eventually settled in Toms River before Mae came to call Alcoeur Gardens her home. Mae, Mae as she is affectionately called by the staff of her Alcoeur Gardens family loves to laugh and is quite the trivia buff. She always astounds us with the facts she knows. Some of Mae’s favorite shows are Animal Planet and Jeopardy. Sh especially loves babies, sweets and joking around. It is at Alcoeur Gardens that we found out that Mae has always been known as a social butterfly. In her heyday, she was quite the fashionista and loved wearing skirts, high heels, lipstick and red nail polish. She says proudly that dressing that way was her choice. One of Mae’s favorite saying is “cleanliness is next to godliness.”