Tarpon Springs woman unfazed at turning 105

By BETSY BOLGER-PAULET

© St. Petersburg Times,
published June 13, 2001

TARPON SPRINGS -- As Lillie Cobo sat in the immaculate dining room of the mobile home she shares with her only daughter in the Meadows, she looked cool and comfortable in her pink shorts and T-shirt.

She did not look anywhere near her age. A giant greeting card sitting next to her bore the message: Sakes Alive Lillie's 105!!

The card was covered with signatures and best wishes for "many more years" from friends and residents at the retirement community off Anclote Boulevard where Mrs. Cobo has lived since she came here in 1989 from New York.

Although her birthday is Thursday, Mrs. Cobo received the greeting card when she was surprised by a birthday party Saturday in the community clubhouse. She was born Lillie Agro on June 14, 1896, in Naro, a village in Sicily.

It was 1916 and World War I was raging in Europe when she left her childhood home and sailed across the ocean to the land of opportunity. She left her parents, Josephine and Calogero Agro, behind. Her sisters, Maria and Josephine, also immigrated to America.

Like many of the young women who came to this country in the early 1900s, her first home was the YWCA in New York City. It was there that she met Joseph Cobo, who came to the Y to visit his sisters. On Sept. 30, 1922, they were married.

The union was short-lived. He left when their only child, Linda, was a toddler.

Mother and daughter have lived together ever since and Mrs. Cobo supported the two of them by working as a "zig-zag operator" in the garment district for 45 years until she retired in 1965.

After graduation, Linda helped, working for 40 years as paymaster at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in Manhattan.

They lived in Manhattan until they moved to the Bronx in 1944. In 1975 they went "out to the country" to Monroe, N.Y., where they had a third of an acre and time to enjoy their passion for gardening.

"We tried vegetables, but flowers and shrubs were our favorites," said Linda Cobo.

Although Roman Catholic at birth, Mrs. Cobo joined the Presbyterian Church of the Covenant on 42nd Street soon after moving to New York. The small mission church was popular because of an all-immigrant congregation and because the sermon was delivered in Italian.

Mrs. Cobo loves to sing and was very involved in the church choir. A strong soprano, she was often called on to solo and she performed in church theater productions.

Life was simple for the mother and daughter, revolving around work and family.

"Mom hated to cook. Thank goodness we had her sisters who loved to cook," recounted Linda Cobo. "But she loved shopping, and she took me with her everywhere she went."

Today Lillie Cobo has five nieces, 15 grandnieces and grandnephews and numerous great-grand and great-great-grands.

She is a woman of few words. When asked why she has lived to the age of 105, her answer was succinct: "God said so!"

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