At a party celebrating her 100th birthday, Mary Fink was asked about the secret to her longevity. <\/p>\n
\"She said, 'Helping others,' \" recalled her son, Free Press attorney Herschel Fink. \"I think it was also her remarkable outlook on life. She was a glass half full, not empty, person.\" <\/p>\n
Ms. Fink, 104, of West Bloomfield died Monday at the Lakeland Center nursing facility in Southfield. She had been in remarkable health until a stroke late last week, her son said. <\/p>\n
\"I often asked people to guess how many pills a day she took. The answer was none, although she did take a baby aspirin every day,\" Fink said. <\/p>\n
One of nine children, Ms. Fink was born in 1909 in a village near Bucharest, Romania. Her tenacity and independence showed at an early age, when her family hid in a cellar as bombs fell during World War I. <\/p>\n
\"She was probably, at that time, maybe around 9 or 10. ... She (told) about crawling out of the cellar and going to soldiers and asking for food for her family. And they would give her potatoes and things like that she would bring back,\" Fink said. <\/p>\n
Ms. Fink and her family moved to the U.S. when she was 12. She later married a man named Harry Katz, who died while she was pregnant with Herschel. She got married again a few years later to Irving Fink, a widower with two children. <\/p>\n
Ms. Fink worked for years as a bookkeeper, first at Hudson's in Detroit and later at a dental supply company in Royal Oak. Ms. Fink was in her 50s when she decided to finish high school so she could receive her diploma. She enjoyed working. <\/p>\n
\"She even lied about her age so she wouldn't be forced to retire too soon,\" Fink said. \"She worked into her 70s.\" <\/p>\n
In retirement, Ms. Fink spent much of her time helping others. She volunteered in an intensive care unit and then as a chaplain at Beaumont Hospital in Royal Oak. <\/p>\n
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Originally posted here: At a party celebrating her 100th birthday, Mary Fink was asked about the secret to her longevity. \"She said, 'Helping others,' \" recalled her son, Free Press attorney Herschel Fink. Continue reading
\nMary Fink: Avid volunteer, 104, said secret to longevity was helping others<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"