Rose Calk celebrates globe-trotting 100 years

SAUGUS – From Lithuania to Tacoma, Wash., to Lynn and now Saugus, Rose Calk?s life has taken her across the globe, and on Tuesday, across the century mark.Calk celebrated her 100th birthday Tuesday along with staff and other residents at the Rubin & Thompson Assisted Living facility in Saugus. Executive Director Eric Rubin presented Calk with a cake as she sat comfortably on a giant brown leather recliner with Christmas music playing in the background.?That?s a lot of years, honey,” said Calk. “I don?t feel 100. I don?t feel old. I feel like a young girl.”Calk lived on her own until she was 94 and has been living at Rubin & Thompson for the last six years. Her son, Lane Fleischer, lives in Manchester, N.H. and makes the drive down at least once a week to visit his mom, who has been battling Alzheimer?s.?Sometimes she knows me and sometimes she doesn?t,” said Fleischer, 79. “But they take such terrific care of her.”Calk?s family first emigrated to America from Lithuania in the early 1900s. Calk was born in 1911 in Tacoma, moved to Boise, Idaho when she was a little girl, then to Winthrop and finally to Lynn in 1955, where Fleischer said most of her family had been living.Calk, along with her late husband Nate, owned Calk?s Liquor on Newhall Street in Lynn. When Nate died in 1973, Calk ran the store by herself until she was almost 90. Today it?s called Santo Domingo Liquors.Fleischer recalled an incident around 12 years ago when a man armed with a gun tried to rob his mom?s store. According to Fleischer, Calk, who was around 88, refused to give up any money, threatened to turn the man in and actually grabbed the gun from the robber?s hand.A week later, Fleischer said he returned to the store to apologize.?It was a tough job,” sad Fleischer. “But she was tough. Funny enough she didn?t turn him in, but he didn?t get his gun back either. She had a lot of moxie. She didn?t take any malarkey from anyone.”Calk was one of the first residents at Rubin & Thompson when it opened in 2004, and staffer Patricia Wylie said she?s been a welcome addition ever since.?She?s amazing,” said Wylie. “She is something else. She?s always had that great sense of humor.”However, Calk didn?t move in by herself. She brought her dog Hubba Hubba with her, who stood by her side until he died several years ago.?He was a beautiful dog,” said Calk. “He was very good to me.”Rubin & Thompson specializes in Alzheimer?s and dementia care, and Rubin said he will often bring in his own dog, a Corgi named Hercules, or even horses for the residents.?We do a lot of pet therapy, which is good for dementia,” said Rubin.When she first moved in, Rubin said Calk “needed a lot of assistance,” but she still kept her fiery personality, which Rubin said reminded him of his own grandmother.?She?s very feisty,” said Rubin. “When she first moved in, she definitely told us what she wanted and when she wanted it. The minute I met her I thought she was exactly like my grandmother. She?s been a part of our family for six years and I can?t believe she?s 100 years old. It?s amazing.”Matt Tempesta can be reached at [email protected]. You can follow him on Twitter @MattTempesta.