Markeshia Ricks Photo
Annie Bradley Gallman says that there’s no secret in living to 100; it just requires some work. And she should know. She joined the centenarian club Thursday — a decade after she finally stopped working.
“I don’t feel no different,” she said of reaching the milestone. “Still the same, just the age.”
Wearing a smart white dress suit, sparkling jewelry, and a tiara, Gallman accepted hugs, kisses, and well wishes for an even longer life during a party held in her honor at Ella B. Scantlebury Senior Residence on Dixwell Avenue.
Gallman said she “worked all of my life,” and she wasn’t kidding. She worked at U.S. Rubber in Naugatuck; a laundry in Seymour; Scovill in Waterbury; Shelton Hat Shop; a dress factory on Wooster Street; and Berger Bros. on Derby Avenue. She technically retired from Sargent Manufacturing Co. in 1983, but then she went on to work as a companion at the New Haven Jewish Home for the Aged until she was 90.
She stopped working only because her family insisted; they also insisted she give up her keys.
At 100, she is still mobile, using only a cane to walk. And though she doesn’t get around like she used to, she still manages to maintain a presence at the Dixwell/Newhallville Senior Center and St. Matthew’s Unison Free Will Baptist Church.
Barbara “B.J.” Battle (pictured with Gallman) said she met Gallman at the senior center, where they struck up a conversation. She said she felt like she knew Gallman after that first conversation. The two have been friends since.
“I just enjoy being with her,” Battle said.
Gallman moved to Connecticut back in 1942 from her native Columbia, S.C. She married James Gallman Sr. in 1938. They had six children:, James, Etta, Lillie, Linda, Harold and Fredrick. They lived in Ansonia until the summer flood of 1955 forced them to move. They chose to settle in New Haven.
Gallman lived in the old Elm Haven projects at 25 Ashmun St. Unit 54 for many years. She moved into Ella B. Scantlebury Senior Residence in 1994 after the projects were torn down. She was one of the first tenants at Scantlebury.
A grateful Mayor Toni Harp, who brought Gallman flowers and a proclamation from her office, thanked her for choosing New Haven.
Dixwell Alder Jeanette Morrison also came to the birthday party Thursday bearing a proclamation from both the Board of Alders and the Connecticut General Assembly.
Grandson Hugh Gallman said he’s been waiting for his grandmother’s 100th birthday since she was 99. She helped raise him and saw him and his mother through some tough times. He said she was a strict, no-nonsense disciplinarian. And he appreciated it. Now, he’s a father.
Gallman is grandmother to about 20 grandchildren, a number of great-grandchildren, and aunt to a host of nieces and nephews.
“It’s a beautiful thing,” Hugh Gallman said of his grandmother’s life.
Gallman’s daughter Etta Burke and niece Ruthie Ricks (both pictured with Gallman) said longevity might just run in the family. Gallman’s only sister Johnetta, affectionately called Johnnie by Gallman, passed away in January at 97.
They said Gallman was a strict mother who raised them to respect “the village” rules that were prevalent during their younger years. That meant that if you got into trouble out of your parents’ sight, adults could chastise you on the spot. Your parents would know what you did and that you had been chastised by the time you got home.
“I’m really grateful we were raised that way,” Burke said.
Ricks agreed.
“God has blessed us,” she said.
Click the video below to see an interview with Gallman at her birthday party.