New York’s oldest woman still ‘dancing’ after 113th birthday: ‘A beautiful person’
Imagine a Bronx resident who has lived through the Titanic’s wreck, two world wars, the Great Depression, Elvis’s debut, and the first moon landing – all while turning 113 and still keeping the rhythm. Louise Jean Signore, who was born in July 1912 to Italian immigrants in Harlem, keeps dancing months after her 113th birthday. When she stopped by the Bartow Center near her Co‑Op City apartment, a familiar soundtrack made her tap her feet again, just as she used to do when she was young.
Her neighbor and close friend, Frances Perkins, who turned 77 this year, recalled, “She loved to dance and when she heard the music she began tapping her feet.” Perkins went on to explain that Louise still joined friends for bingo and line dancing, although she’s slowed down a little, and she made it a point to seek out music on her own terms.
Louise’s birth week found the Titanic in the Atlantic, and a few years later she was already a toddler as World War I blew up. The crash of 1929 was still five years away when she moved to the Bronx at age 12. By 1941, when the United States entered World War II, she was 29, watching several brothers go to war and return safely. She witnessed Elvis shock the world on the Ed Sullivan Show when she was 44, and she greeted the first steps on the moon when she was 57.
Her long career with the MTA – nearly four decades – taught her, as she told reporters, that not marrying or having kids was part of her secret. “I’m systematic,” she said. “I do the same thing every day at the same time. I don’t change. If I take a nap at 8 o’clock, I keep it.” She adds, “It’s my body. Nobody tells me what to do. I do what I think is best. It works.”
Louise now ranks as the third oldest living person in the United States, after 115‑year‑old Naomi Whitehead of Pennsylvania and 114‑year‑old Bonita Gibson from Michigan. The world’s oldest is Ethel Caterham in England, who is 116. In recognition of her milestone, the Co‑Op City complex installed a plaque in the garden where she spent her birthday, and she celebrated with a cake and her favorite Italian meal—sole and pasta—surrounded by family and friends.
“She’s such a dear friend and I’ll always stay with her,” Perkins said. “I used to see her around but we became friends when she was 97 and we just clicked.” She added, “She is a beautiful person. I want her to have peace and happiness and enjoy the years to come.”
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