How do you make it to age 100? Jo Sharp is independent, positive, connected and stubborn

BRAINTREE − Of all my end-of-summer memories, the party that Jo Sharp's family gave to celebrate her upcoming 100th birthday was one of the very special occasions.

Although Jo's 100th birthday isn't until Sept. 26, her daughter, Nancy McGrory, of Braintree, and son, Alan Sharp, of Kingston, arranged to have the party at Jo's house on July 22, a Saturday afternoon. Their spouses, Gene McGrory and Peggy Sharp, and other family members helped with the preparations.

Jo has seven grandchildren, fourteen great-grandchildren and more than 30 cousins. The July date allowed almost everyone to be there, unlike late September when younger generations will have gone off to college or jobs.

Ever since Jo's late husband, Herbert, had their backyard pool installed 55 years ago, Jo has always hosted a family pool party in July. This year her family added her birthday celebration to it.

"It brought back cousins and their children and so many memories," Nancy McGrory said. "Some hadn't been back since they were children."

Until recently, Jo was going to The Weymouth Club twice a week to do strength building exercises with her trainer. She still climbs five front steps to get in and out of her house. She sees her 94-year-old sister Diana often, and her nephew, Quincy author John Picardi, takes her out weekly for dinner and to see the sights. At the party he had a photo album of places they have been.

"We worked hard to help her stay there"

The party was a tribute to Jo's remarkable independence and all the ways her family has made changes in the house where they grew up.

"We worked hard to help her stay there," Nancy said.

Some 20 years ago, an addition was built onto the first floor, adding a sitting room, a bathroom and a deck. Several years ago, her son Alan and grandson Russell moved her bedroom down to the first floor. They set up the bed in the sitting room behind the dining room. She can walk into the kitchen, the bathroom and the living room and step through the sliding glass door onto the deck.

She has always been very active and determined to handle things for herself.

"When you are trying to do something for her, she wants to do it and gets in the way," her daughter said. "In her 80s, she was on top of the kitchen counter taking curtains down."

Her office and some belongings are still upstairs, so a stairlift was installed. Now she can sit and ride up the side of the stairs. Once when I visited, she demonstrated and then insisted I try it. I got nervous when I was riding up in the chair and she started to walk up the stairs.

Born on Wednesday Sept. 26, 1923, Josephine "Jo" Coletti grew up in South Quincy with three sisters and a brother. She played all the time with a large group of cousins who lived in the neighborhood.

She trained at Quincy City Hospital and stayed there

She graduated in the Quincy High School Class of 1942 and from the Quincy City Hospital School of Nursing in 1945. She was a member of the U.S. Cadet Nurse Corps during World War II and went to work at Quincy Hospital, on the night shift when her children were little, and worked for 35 years. She spent a few years at Milton and South Shore hospitals.

At age 22, she married Herbert Sharp, who had his own welding business and then worked in maintenance for the Milton School Department. In addition to Alan and Nancy, they had another son, Richard, who died in 2002.

Jo was an active volunteer, both before and after she retired. She served meals to guests at Father Bill's shelter for 20 years. She also volunteered at the Hingham Food Pantry and American Red Cross blood drives, and worked at the Quincy polls and on the federal census.

When she retired at age 67 in 1989, her daughter, a North Quincy High School teacher, suggested they join The Weymouth Club together that summer and try tennis. Jo's husband, Herb, had died two years earlier. Jo loved it and played tennis at the club until she was 95.

In 2014, the late Walter Hoeg, 82, of Kingston, and his wife, Fran, contacted me. They wanted to track down his childhood nurse. He had seen the name of Jo Coletti Sharp in The Patriot Ledger.

As a 12-year-old, in 1944, Walter had his tonsils removed at Quincy City Hospital and forever remembered the kind attentiveness of his student nurse, who was Jo Coletti, then 19 or 20.

"I fell in love with my nurse," he said.

The two reunited on the steps of Quincy Medical Center.

“I think it is amazing that you can go that long and then find someone, after 72 years,” Hoeg said. He had fulfilled a longtime wish. Hoeg, a Navy and Marine veteran, died in 2016.

When the tennis group stopped, Jo began doing her own strength training at The Weymouth Club, working with trainer Michele Fay to perform exercises appropriate for someone in their 90s.

She's stubborn and proud of it

Longevity runs in the family. Her mother lived to 87 and three of her four siblings lived to be 90 or older. As for her own achievement, she said, "I have no idea. I keep asking God that."

In addition to lucky genes, Jo Sharp has many of the qualities often associated with longevity: She is positive, she stays active, she stays connected to others and she has a stubborn persistence.

Younger people at the club see her, the oldest member, as an inspiration, a cheerful and friendly presence.

The July party was, she said, "marvelous. I enjoyed it so much."

On Sept. 26, she plans to celebrate again, this time quietly at home, with her family.

Lifelong Learning registration begins Sept. 11 in Duxbury

Online registration begins Monday, Sept. 11, at 8 a.m. for the Duxbury Senior Center’s Lifelong Learning fall session. Visit duxburyseniorcenter.org.

Walk-in registration at the senior center at 10 Mayflower St. will be Sept. 11 and Sept. 12 from 10 a.m. to noon.

The cost is $30 per class, payable to the Town of Duxbury.

Click here for a fall 2023 brochure with class descriptions and instructors' bios.

Several longtime favorites will be back this session, including two courses in film noir. There will be courses in birding, poetry, The New Yorker, Shakespeare, Russia, Beacon Hill, political rhetoric and happiness. It's a diverse, well-run program, and highly recommended.

Reach Sue Scheible at sscheible@patriotledger.com.

This article originally appeared on The Patriot Ledger: At age 100, retired Quincy Hospital nurse is active, independent