Jersey City resident Frances Oakley, 98, had a little problem during her boat trip from England to the U.S. in 1914.
Two days into her immigration voyage from Liverpool aboard the RMS Mauretania, Great Britain declared war on Germany, and German U-boats were looking to sink British seacraft.
“A big gray destroyer came to pick up us in the middle of the ocean and we ended up in Halifax [Nova Scotia],” said Oakley, who was 6 years old at the time, last week. But Oakley, then named Frances Stenlake, made it with her mother and two siblings to join their father in Hoboken.
They later moved to Jersey City. Oakley has led an interesting life in Hudson County. Today, she still drives, helps out with charities, and plays the organ on Sundays at her local church.
She and fellow Jersey City resident Florence Nissen, also 98, were interviewed about reaching the near-century mark last week. Both by coincidence were born in October a day apart, with Nissen born on the 28th and Oakley on the 29th.Just got high school diploma
When it came to the question of how she has managed to live so long, Oakley offered matter-of-factly last week, “It feels like nothing, “I’m just so busy, up to my eyes in work. That’s the secret to keep going.”
And she has also been busy receiving accolades. Oakley received a citation from the City Council in October honoring her turning 98 and for years of community service.
Also, she received her high school diploma from Dickinson High School in Jersey City 83 years after leaving the school to go to work.
Oakley was able to look back on her life with a clear memory.
After she and her family left the boat in Canada in 1914, she and other passengers waited in a railroad station for several days until a train came to move them closer to the U.S. Eventually, the train rolled into Buffalo, N.Y.
“The conductor yells out ‘Ladies and gentlemen, you are in the United States,’ ” said Oakley. “My mom then rushed out to get some food for us since we only had an hour before the train would leave again.”
Her mother got back in the nick of time, as the train left exactly on time. But many of the passengers were not as lucky, as the Stenlakes along with a Welsh family of five were the only ones on board.
At the final stop, Oakley got her first glimpse of Jersey City as the train rolled into the Central Railroad of New Jersey Terminal, now restored in what is now Liberty State Park.
“The train guy got on aboard and said ‘Where are the people?’, and my mom said, ‘You jolly well know where they are, you left them behind,’ ” said Oakley.
After a stay on Ellis Island, the family eventually met up with her father, injured from a fall while working in a Hoboken factory.
Oakley went on to marry a Jersey City firefighter and see her own family grow from three children to 15 grandchildren to 38 great-grandchildren.
There are so many great, great grandchildren that she says she has lost count. ‘She was a real live wire’
Florence Nissen is confined to a wheelchair at a Jersey City nursing home, but only four years ago, she was still preparing her own meals and singing her favorite opera tunes at her Bayonne home of 30 years.
Florence Nissen started humming a tune when interviewed last week at her current residence at the Atrium at Hamilton Park, an assisted living facility for the elderly on Tenth Street. She was demonstrating her past as a soprano with the LaPuma Opera Workshop in New York City.
Not as talkative as Oakley, she was more focused on making music.
Photos from her youth and as a performer with the opera were brought out by caretakers at the Atrium to try to warm her memory, but all Nissen could muster was, “She was so beautiful.”
The caretakers could not offer much more information on their oldest resident, but her niece spoke for her.
Marian Nilsen painted a complex portrait of an aunt who was pretty liberated for her time.
Florence Nissen was born in Brooklyn but grew up in Staten Island. She attended New York University in the 1930s, was one year away from graduating from medical school before an illness put an end to those studies.
She was married and divorced twice, had one son, and taught in the New York City school system. She was also a positive light in her niece’s life.
“I remember wanting to go to law school and leave teaching, but most everyone I knew tried to talk me out of it,” said Nilsen. “But my aunt would encourage me to go ahead.”
Nilsen also described her aunt as being “vain” about her looks in the past, and hoped her hair would be properly coiffed for any photos.
Nilsen’s husband, William, worked with Nissen in the school system and is an opera buff who appreciated Nissen’s talent and her overall presence. For him, she was a diva on and off-stage.
“She was a real live wire, probably one of the most opinionated people I ever knew,” said Nilsen.
Nilsen said he was saddened to see her in her current state, but admitted she was much “sweeter” as a person than before her stroke. Ricardo Kaulessar can be reached at rkaulessar@hudsonreporter.com