Bernice Metz turned 100 years old on Oct. 13, 2022.
VENTNOR – Although there were clouds over the city Thursday afternoon, the sun was shining on Victoria Avenue where Bernice “Betty” Sabel-Matz was on her sunporch celebrating her 100th birthday with three of her four children.
Bernice’s mom was superstitious, her daughter Ruth said.
“Mom always thought her birthday was on the 14th. It wasn’t until years later when mom needed to get a Passport did she find out her birthday was really on the 13th.”
Bernice was born in Philadelphia, one of four siblings. She married Samuel “Buddy” Matz, who had an optometry office on 8th and Walnut streets, and together they raised four children, John, Al, Ruth and Rae. All but John were at her home Thursday to celebrate the milestone. She has seven grandchildren and six great-grandchildren, who put balloons in her front window letting the whole neighborhood know Bernice turned 100 years old.
Although they lived in the Logan section of Philadelphia and eventually moved to Cherry Hill, starting in 1969, the couple enjoyed their summers in Ventnor, and Sam even had a small office in the basement of their Victoria Avenue home. When Buddy retired, they moved to Ventnor on a full time basis and became snowbirds, traveling to and from Florida for many years, Bernice said.
While Bernice was busy raising her children, she always found time to volunteer in the community.
“She always attended our school PTA meetings, and was past-president of Hadassah,” her son Al said.
Bernice also volunteered in a thrift store raising money for hospice when she resided in Bocca Raton and Del Ray Beach in Florida, she said.
“I also volunteered at the Jewish Federation. I always felt that if you give, you will receive,” she said.
Bernice Matz with her children, from left, Ray, Al, Ruth and John.
But the hard work that really paid off for Bernice was raising four “wonderful” children.
“They even picked good mates,” she said.
Asked why she has had so many birthdays, Bernice said, “I have no idea.”
She lost her siblings when they were 14, 28 and 60, she said, and her parents lived until they were 85.
“It could be because of my sense of humor,” she said. “Without it, you won’t have a full life. You need to see the upside of things. If you only see the downside, your world will be dark. You’ve always got to see the bright side of life.”
She remembers FDR’s Fireside Chats when she was a youngster and voting for the first time for Harry S. Truman, who had a sign on his Oval Office desk that read, “The buck stops here.”
“He was a plain man, not devious, not a politician. He was a good man who always said how it was,” she said.
Movies had a big influence on her life, and her favorite movie is “Gone with the Wind.” The last movie she saw in a theater was “Downton Abby.”
“My mom would pack us a lunch and movies were a dime in those days. She told us if we didn’t behave, we wouldn’t be able to go to the movies on Saturday,” she said.
Her favorite actor was John Wayne, until she heard that he made racist and antisemitic remarks.
“That made me feel sad. I always thought he was beyond that,” she said. “People who say things like that are small people. They don’t see the bright side. How we handle the bad things is what makes you a good person.”
Her biggest disappointment in life was seeing Americans attack the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
“When I saw our people attacking our country, it was shocking. Things like that happening in our country is unbelievable,” she said.
After her husband died in 1997, Bernice had a partner, Max Becker, who was four years her junior. Due to her failing eyesight, the couple has separated.
“But he called me today to wish me a happy birthday,” she said.
Her failing vision has resulted in her having to give up her beloved iPad, where she played Words with Friends, and saw what everyone was posting on Facebook.
“Some of it was silly, but it was fun,” she said.
She also taught all her children to play mahjongg and played herself until the pandemic put a damper on her social life. She also liked to attend North Beach Ventnor Residents Association events.
“I always enjoyed being with people,” she said.
“She could do standup at parties,” Al said. “She’d always have everyone rolling.”
Her children took her to dinner at Johnny’s Restaurant in Margate Wednesday evening.
“We went to Johnny’s in honor of my son, John, who is in Ohio and wasn’t able to come,” she said.
Rae said they honored their mother with a bench on the Ventnor boardwalk. It’s located near the tennis courts, a popular place where many strolling by with see it, she said.
“When I look back on my life, I am most proud of my four children and how they turned out and raised wonderful families,” Bernice said. “And, now the beat goes on. As it should.”
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