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Neighborhood report

Keeping a steady beat

At 103, she remains strong enough to blow out birthday candles on her own and play a sweet beat African drum.

By MEGAN VOELLER
Published March 3, 2006

A silver tiara perched on her white curls, Angelina Padula paused between bites of birthday cake to answer a familiar question.

"What's your secret, Angie?"

"Oh, nothing, just nature," she said.

Others say that Padula, who turned 103 last week, credits her longevity to other cures: olive oil and positive thinking.

"She doesn't take any medications. She eats like a horse and doesn't gain a pound. We're going to be celebrating Angie's 110th birthday; that's my prediction," said Lynn Voss, who directs the Ruskin Senior Center where Padula regularly attends a daylong program of activities.

"I want to be just like her when I'm that age," she added.

At her birthday party last week, the petite centenarian sat in a red suit with a white corsage beside her son-in-law, Ed Rose, 64.

The pair have been inseparable since the death of Rose's wife and Padula's daughter, Lucille, in 2003. At that time, Padula, who lived with her daughter and son-in-law in Valrico, moved with Rose to Sun City Center.

Since then, Padula has been a frequent visitor to the nearby senior center in Ruskin, Rose said.

Born in Montemore, Italy, in 1903, Padula was the youngest of more than a dozen siblings. Her parents ran a local inn and restaurant in the southern town near Naples, Rose said.

At 18, she married Rocco Padula, an Italian-American who was visiting family in Italy. The couple moved to the United States and settled in Albany, N.Y., where Rocco owned a chain of barbershops, Rose said.

Decades after his death, her husband's love is still fresh in Padula's memory.

During a poetry writing session at the senior center, she wrote an acrostic poem about him.

With travel increasingly difficult, the senior center has become Padula's social life, Rose said.

He praised the county-run facility for offering a variety of activities that fit her level of ability.

African drumming is one of Padula's favorite activities. Jana Broder, who leads the seniors in a biweekly drum circle at the center, said Padula hasn't missed a class in three years.

"We've been drumming since Angelina was a spry 100," Broder said.

Broder, 46, visits senior centers throughout the county with support from a grant by the Hillsborough County Arts Council.

"It's great for their hand-eye coordination, and they have a lot of fun with it," Broder said.

Voss, the center's director, agreed.

"We're finding out that this kind of activity actually builds brain mass in older people," she said.

On this day, Broder arrived after the party and helped the group arrange chairs in a circle.

The seniors sat with 2-foot tall African djembe drums between their knees. The hourglass-shaped drum has a wooden base and a skin top that produces a deep bass note.

Standing in the center of the circle with her own drum, Broder led the group in a series of African folk songs.

Some seniors were tentative drummers; others thumped and wailed with gusto.

Padula tapped lightly on her drum and sang along.

[Last modified March 2, 2006, 13:55:05]