If you ask politely, Anna Harchar might just give you a number to play in the lottery – although for the most part this 105-year-old Bayonne woman spends her time praying, chanting old Slovak folk songs and cheering on the Mets, her favorite baseball team.
While she also likes to play the slot machines in Atlantic City, she had to stop several years ago at 102 after two falls caused her family members to fear she might suffer serious injury if she continued.
So now, she prays, chants and watches TV.
“She likes to watch movies, Judging Amy, and Wheel of Fortune but she watches just about anything,” said Anna’s daughter, Betty Nelson, in anticipation of Anna’s 106th birthday on Nov. 5.
In season, Anna loves to watch ice-skating, too.
Anna was born in 1900 in Slovakia, one of six siblings, three brothers and two sisters, all of whom she has outlived.
She still feels the ache of losing her baby sister, Veronica, who died at six months old from pneumonia.
Sometimes, when she is in the mood, she talks about her upbringing. Betty knows most of the stories, though she says time has a way of making her forget some of the details.
Shahazan Richardson, from the Visiting Home Maker Service, who has been attending to Anna for five years, says she’s heard the stories, too.
“Anna’s father was a blacksmith,” Richardson recalled.
A victim of persecution
Anna grew up in a troubled time and a trouble place.
As a Slovak prior to World War I, she and her people were often victims of persecution. Slovakia was a part of the Greater Hungarian Kingdom, and Anna’s people often suffered at the hands of their Hungarian rulers in what historians called Magyarization
The Magyars, or ethnic Hungarians, dominated the numerous nationalities around them during the years prior to World War I. Slovaks were forced to use the Hungarian language and adopt the Hungarian culture. During Anna’s early life Slovak schools and institutions were ordered closed, the Slovak libraries, historical and artistic collections as well as financial instructions were raided and stripped. In some cases, the Hungarian authorities, in their endeavor to suppress the Slovak nationality, went even to the extent of taking away Slovak children to be brought up as Magyars, and forbade them to learn their language and their history in school and church. While more than two million Slovaks, who were predominantly Catholic, clung to their language and Slavic customs, most of the church leaders and churches that served Slovaks as social centers forced to adopt the Magyar language and teach Magyar culture.
“My mother had to attend a Hungarian schools because Czechoslovakia was under the rule of Austrian/Hungary,” Betty said. “She told me if anyone was caught talking Slovak at any time they would be punished.”
Anna comes to America
Although the end of World War I led to the formation of the nation of Czechoslovakia, this was an uncomfortable union since Slovakia was largely agriculture and did not always fit well with its more industrial partners. At 15 years old, Anna along with her mother worked for brothers who owned a lot of land in Slovakia.
Even though now part of a larger nation, Slovaks were not free of Hungarian violence. In 1919, Slovakia was attacked by the Hungarian Soviet Republican turning about one third of Slovakia, for a short time, into the Slovak Soviet Republic. The country was constantly under threat from Hungary and Germany after that.
“Momma wanted in the worst way to come to America to live with her older sister, Mary,” Betty said.
So around 1920, Anna left her family and traveled to France, where from one of the port cities she set sail to America.
She arrived at Ellis Island on June 6, 1921.
“She then was given a thorough physical examination and found to be in good health,” Betty said. “My mother said she would never go back to Czechoslovakia and to this day she never did.”
From Ellis Island, Anna traveled by bus to McAdoo, Penn. where she took up residence with her sister Mary and her family. For the next two years, she worked at a housekeeper for the pastor of a Russian Church there, and for a short time she also worked at a seamstress.
Came to Bayonne in 1923
Anna moved to Bayonne in 1923, taking up residence with a Slovak family who were friends of her mother and father in the old country.
“I really admire my mother for what she did,” Betty said. “She left her family and came to America, and then went out on her own.”
Anna worked at restaurant in Bayonne and as a housekeeper for two local families.
A devout Catholic, Anna became a regular parishioner at St. Joseph’s Church where – while attending a social function in May 1924 – she met her future husband, George.
“She was introduced to him by the woman with whom she was living,” Betty said. “She ran away from him at first. But something must have attracted her to him because she went back.”
George was born and raised in Bayonne, working for J & L Steel Barrel Company on Hook Road.
They dated for 14 months and were married in July 1925. Their first child, Stephen was born the following April, followed by a daughter, Anna, in May 1928, and Betty in March 1937.
A few months later, on July 8, 1937, Anna became a citizen of the United States, fulfilling a dream.
During World War II, Anna – like millions of American women – went to work in the defense industry at Solar Manufacturing Company in Bayonne, which manufactured airplane parts. The firm, which operated from 1942 to 1945, was located on Avenue A and 23rd Street where the Post Road Garden senior citizen building is located today. Anna worked sorting parts.
“After World War II ended my mother worked as a housekeeper for three families here in Bayonne,” Betty said. “She always kept herself busy.”
Tragedy struck on Sept. 24, 1959 when her husband died.
“The happiest time of her life was spent with my father,” Betty said. “He was a good man and he died too young.”
She never gave up
Perhaps other women might have given up. Six months later, she went to work at night for a cleaning company in New York City until 1969 when two men tried to mug her on the street. As with every other aspect of her life, Anna – a very small woman – refused to be a victim and chased after the men.
While Betty still thinks this was an unwise move, she admired her mother’s bravery.
But it was a lesson on modern times that convinced Anna, who was then almost 69 that it was time to retire.
In retirement, she has kept busy.
She loved going down to Atlantic City. Her last trip there was to celebrate her 102nd birthday. She enjoyed playing the slot machines
She has been an avid Mets fan since the early 1980s and has cheered them on every year since with one exception.
Of all the players, she took a particular shine to Mets catcher Mike Piazza – who she called “Mikey Boy.”
“When the Mets traded him to San Diego, she could only see him when his team played the Mets,” Betty said. “She was very excited when he played. In one game she kept saying ‘Mikey Boy’ and she was thrilled when he hit two home runs.”
She often watched Mets games with her son, Steve, with whom she lived until about two years ago. When Steve passed on, Anna came to live with Betty.
Over the years, Anna has always been a devout Catholic and is the oldest parishioner of St. Joseph’s Roman Catholic Church in Bayonne. Although no longer able to attend daily mass, she watches mass on television every day, and every First Friday of the month, Rev. Monsignor Edward M. Matash from the parish comes to the house to give her communion.
While she has outlived nearly all of her family, her grandson Tom Nelson still comes back from Clifton to visit her on weekends.
She loves flavored water, pierogies, linguini with garlic and oil, and eggplant with spaghetti, and she attributes her long life to God, eating healthy and hard work.
Oddly enough, her favorite president, Bill Clinton, came to Bayonne to celebrate his 60th birthday on Oct. 29.
And, of course, Anna likes to pick lottery numbers for those closest to her. During the interview she offered several numbers for the daily pick. Has she ever picked a winner?
“Yes, she has,” Richardson said. “A couple of years ago, she picked the winning numbers for me.”
Although Anna can speak perfect English, she mostly talks in her native tongue, chanting old folk songs she learned as a child, as if in these later years, she was making up for the silence imposed on her by the Hungarians in her youth.
And perhaps in fighting the oppression of her youth by keeping her native language alive, she extends her old life, praying and chanting and rooting for the Mets.