It was not just any haircut for Edna Sweeder.
Sweeder, a Kensington resident who turned 100 years old on Nov. 20, had just finished having her hair styled at Joseph & Co. – the Bond Street salon she has frequented since she first moved to Great Neck over a decade ago.
Then came the celebration.
The salon, customers, stylists and all, sang Sweeder happy birthday as her long-time hairdresser Richard Grillo presented her with a birthday cake.
Sweeder, still sitting in Grillo’s swiver chair, was thrilled and, she said, completely surprised.
“I had not the least inkling,” she said.
“I told you for so many years – when you’re 100 we’re going to have a cake and champagne,” Grillo said to Sweeder.
“I didn’t lie.”
Sweeder, who lived for more than 50 years in Kew Gardens Hill, Queens, worked as an executive secretary before her retirement.
“She’s the sweetest lady I have,” said Grillo.
And according to Sweeder, her sunny disposition is one of the secrets to her longevity.
“[My secret is] laughing a lot and having wonderful children,” Sweeder said. “The best children and children’s children in the world.”
Sweeder’s son Gerald, a dentist also lived in Kensington, and her son Kenneth is an attorney living in Boston. She has four grand children and eight great-grand children.
If the scene looked like a family celebration that was no coincidence, according to salon owner Joseph Pugliese.
He said Joseph & Co often serves generations of clients’ families, cutting hair for parents, children and grandparents alike.
