Wiser With Age

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  • Borinqueneer still serves as a military intelligence volunteer at 92

    Borinqueneer still serves as a military intelligence volunteer at 92

    July 27, 2012, U.S. Army veteran Andres Vergara salutes during the commemoration of the 59th anniversary of the Korean War Armistice in Arlington, Virginia. With four official combat jumps, Vergara received the South Korean medal of honor for rescuing 100 children from an orphanage during the war. (Photo/Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
    July 27, 2012, U.S. Army veteran Andres Vergara salutes during the commemoration of the 59th anniversary of the Korean War Armistice in Arlington, Virginia. With four official combat jumps, Vergara received the South Korean medal of honor for rescuing 100 children from an orphanage during the war. (Photo/Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

    The 65th Infantry Regiment, otherwise known as “Borinqueneers,” was created in 1899 by the U.S. Congress as a segregated unit composed primarily of Puerto Ricans. Thousands of these brave men served in World War I, World War II and the Korean War.

    According to Gilberto Villahermosa’s book, “Honor and Fidelity: The 65th Infantry in Korea, 1950-1953,” 61,000 Puerto Ricans served in the Korean War alone, thousands of them with the 65th. However, the 65th has been the only segregated military infantry unit to have not yet been awarded the Congressional Gold Medal.

    But just last month, after more than a year in the making, the House of Representatives and the Senate passed bills that will grant the 65th Infantry Regiment its long-awaited recognition. President Barack Obama will sign the legislation on June 10, 2014, and the living members of the infantry, and their families, will head to Washington to receive the Medal.

    “I am feeling wonderful!,” says Master Sergeant Andres Vergara about the pending honor.

    Vergara, now 92, signed up with the Army at 19 and served in the 65th during World War II. According to “The Borinqueneers” documentary producer, Noemi Figueroa, he is only one of at least 300 Borinqueneers, which could possibly be in the thousands, who are still documented as living. Residing in Clearwater, Florida, Vergara drives 11 hours every weekend to an Army base in Georgia to volunteer – even though he retired from the Army 34 years ago.

    “I do military intelligence,” says Vergara proudly. “I sit at the computer Friday, Saturday and Sunday with no sleep.”

    He says he signed up as a volunteer three years ago, and the Army recruited him.

    “This is my last month,” says Vergara. “I have the rest of the week off, and this weekend I am lucky I can go to New York to take part in the National Puerto Rican Day Parade.”

    This year’s parade, on June 8, will feature a special float dedicated to the Borinqueneers of the 65th Infantry Regiment.

    During service in Korea, Vergara saved the lives of approximately 100 children when a Korean orphanage caught fire. Recently, the Republic of South Korea honored him with a Medal of Honor, and they also named a school in his honor.

    Although the details of that experience are fuzzy in his memory, what he does remember fondly is playing the tuba in the 81st Army Band while serving in Germany, Africa, and Japan.

    What is he going do now that he is retiring from the Army for the second time?

    “I might continue parachute jumping,” says Vergara happily. “I’m a paratrooper. I go every two weeks. I’ve been to Cuba, Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic, Panama, Argentina, Uruguay, Brazil and Israel. Next year, we’re going to Vietnam!”

  • First female Asian elected official on the East Coast continues to give back and speak up

    First female Asian elected official on the East Coast continues to give back and speak up

    Ellen Young in the Chambers being introduced by the Speaker as a freshman member, and the first Asian American woman in the legislature in January 2007. (Courtesy Ellen Young)
    Ellen Young in the Chambers being introduced by the Speaker as a freshman member, and the first Asian American woman in the legislature in January 2007. (Courtesy Ellen Young)

    Ellen Young is not one to stay still, or stay quiet.

    The 62-year-old volunteers as the first, and only, Asian member of the Grievance Committee for the Second, Eleventh, and Thirteenth Judicial Districts. As one of 15 committee members, she reviews complaints against attorneys from Queens, Brooklyn and Staten Island. She says she spends the rest of her time at the newly founded Golden Age Learning Center, which serves approximately 200 seniors.

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  • Harlem cook realizes dream and opens vegan soul food restaurant

    Harlem cook realizes dream and opens vegan soul food restaurant

    Brenda Beener, owner and chef at Seasoned Vegan in Harlem, NY (Photo/Kori Raishon)
    Brenda Beener, owner and chef at Seasoned Vegan in Harlem, NY (Photo/Kori Raishon)

    Owning her own restaurant is something Brenda Beener has wanted for a very long time.

    “I didn’t even realize it, until I started talking to people,” says Beener, who is known in her Harlem, NY community for her exceptional vegan cooking skills.

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  • Bodybuilder and life coach says, “Spend time with yourself”

    Bodybuilder and life coach says, “Spend time with yourself”

     

     

    Dr. Josefina Monasterio, bodybuilder and life coach (Courtesy Dr. Josefina Monasterio)
    Dr. Josefina Monasterio, bodybuilder and life coach (Courtesy Dr. Josefina Monasterio)

    Dr. Josefina Monasterio spent her childhood climbing mango trees in her rural hometown, Punta de Mata, in western Venezuela. She says she was always athletic – competing in track and field and as a gymnast through college. At 68, however, she has far from slowed down. Monasterio is an award-winning bodybuilder and life coach.

    “I started bodybuilding at 59, and now I compete with women in their 30’s, 40’s and 50’s, and I beat them,” says Monasterio laughing in her vivacious manner. “They take pictures with me!”

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  • Horticulturist dedicates his life and career to PA’s Longwood Gardens

    Horticulturist dedicates his life and career to PA’s Longwood Gardens

    Colvin Randall at the Longwood Gardens Conservatory. (Photo/Kristina Puga)
    Colvin Randall at the Longwood Gardens Conservatory. (Photo/Kristina Puga)

    “If I had to choose between going blind or going deaf – that’d be tough,” says Colvin Randall, 63.

    Randall works at Longwood Gardens in Kennett Square, Pennsylvania – located 46 miles west of Philadelphia. Longwood Gardens was the estate of the late American philanthropist, Pierre S. du Pont, and features more than 1,000 acres of gardens, woodlands, meadows and fountains, including a 4.5 acre conservatory. Randall has had the rare opportunity to work there his entire 37-year career in various capacities.

    “My parents first brought me to Longwood Gardens in a carriage, but the first time I remember coming was in 1963 – for my 13th birthday,” says Randall. “It was very magical.”

    Ten years later, when he was 23 and a recent graduate from the University of Virginia, he entered the Longwood Graduate Program in ornamental horticulture – a joint master’s program with the University of Delaware. Randall says his first job out of school was at Longwood Gardens, in 1977, pulling weeds, but he eventually became the public relations manager, the historian and information manager, and in 2008 was named the first P.S. du Pont Fellow in recognition of his varied contributions to the Gardens.

    “What I do now is a lot of historical research, work on videos, and present history talks on Longwood,” says Randall.

    The quiet and gentle historical gardener has written many materials on Longwood Gardens, including the book, “Longwood Gardens: 100+ Years of Garden Splendor,” in 2005.

    “I’m also in charge of fountain and firework displays – two nights a week during summer and every night during Christmas,” says Randall. “I figured out how to use music with fountains. “I’m fascinated by fountains…I’m also very interested in music.”

    InstrumentsatLongwood
    The instruments at Longwood Gardens. (Photo/Kristina Puga)

    He has maintained the famous Aeolian pipe organ and a 62-bell carillon since 1978, in addition to performing concerts for audiences of more than 160,000 for 15 years.

    “We also have a grand piano made by Steinway in Queens, [New York],” says Randall excitedly, yet serenely.

    He mentions his mother was a piano teacher, and perhaps that’s how his love for music developed. Randalls was an only child, and now lives on Longwood Gardens property alone. He never married or had children.

    “I walk to work. I used to roller skate around the property at night, but I fell, so I stopped,” says Randall smiling. “In April/May the tulips come out…the spring brings bird song. Just today, I heard some robins chirping. The sounds in a garden setting are just fantastic.”

    He says working full-time as a Fellow at Longwood Gardens is an honor, and he couldn’t imagine doing anything else – except maybe volunteer at The Metropolitan Opera if he lived in NYC.

    “Find a job that pleases you,” recommends Randall. “If I had chosen to be a stockbroker to make lots of money, I’m sure I’d be retired by now, because I couldn’t take it. I enjoy very much what I do…because it is not repetitive, and in researching history, hopefully future generations will not have to do the research. The information will be there….I wish I could go on forever.”