Year in Review 2022: Vivienne Gershon, Island centenarian, celebrating a milestone

This story appeared in October 2022.

The Shelter Island Country Club was just 20 years old when Vivienne Gershon was born, and the clubhouse still standing proudly atop Goat Hill seems a fitting place for Vivienne to celebrate with her family and friends when she turns 100 next Saturday, Oct. 29.

Vivienne is one of at least three Islanders who are becoming centenarians this year.

Americans have become accustomed to hearing about 100th birthdays, especially seeing them celebrated by Willard Scott on the Today Show with their faces on the labels of Smucker’s Preserves.

It’s still a rare milestone, though, with just 0.0173% of Americans who live to 100 according to census figures. Overwhelmingly, it’s women who live to age 100.

In 2010, 82.8 percent of centenarians were female.

“We know that women are more social than men. Other studies have found that staying socially connected predicts greater life expectancy,” said Gary Small, a professor on aging and director of the UCLA Longevity Center in Los Angeles.

The lunchtime birthday gathering will bring together “all the generations,” including her two sons, Colin and Gary, Vivienne said, as well as several friends. If one of the keys to a long and happy life is the gift of lasting friendships, this is evident in Vivienne’s “girlfriends I’ve kept through the years,” who will join her to celebrate this milestone.

One couple, in fact, will travel from England, where Vivienne hails from, to be with her for her birthday.

Indeed, Vivienne, who is well-known to many Islanders, has retained the accent that identifies her as a daughter of Keighley, in Yorkshire.

During World War II, Ms. Gershon was a player in one of the most remarkable feats of World War II — the breaking of the German military code by a group of British patriots.

When she graduated from high school the war was on, with the German Wehrmacht rolling from victory to victory through Europe and bombing British cities.

She worked for a while caring for returning veterans and then joined the Women’s Royal Naval Service, known as the Wrens, at the end of 1942. Not long after that, she was recruited by British intelligence services to work on breaking the German codes, which historians say substantially shortened the war.

The war changed everything for Britons, she said. One life-changing moment came when she met a young American airman named Archie Gershon at a Halloween dance in 1944. They fell in love, married, had two boys and eventually came to the United States, settling in Port Washington.

When one of her sons was a little boy, a friend of his said he was going to a place called Shelter Island to visit his grandparents.

With a sense of adventure, Vivienne packed up her kids and husband and went out east to see the Island.

Here, along with Archie, who has since passed away, they opened and ran the shop called the House of Glass for many years, located at the corner of Route 114 and Duvall Road, with a gift shop on one side and hardware supplies and a garden center on the other.

Following up on a longtime interest in art, Vivienne studied ceramics and eventually began a tradition of creating a new Shelter Island Christmas ornament each year, which have become collectibles.

While making a home on Shelter Island and contributing to the strength of the community, she’s retained an affection and ties to the U.K., reflecting recently on the passing of Queen Elizabeth II, after a reign of more than 70 years.

“The Queen never faltered,” Vivienne told the Reporter at the time. “She did a wonderful job right to the end.”

Another secret of longevity may be the willingness to try something new, like the sense of adventure that brought the Gershons to Shelter Island. To top off the birthday on Saturday, the Gershons will gather with a smaller group for dinner.

“We’re going to try the new French place, Leon,” Vivienne said.

We wish Vivienne bon appetit and a very happy 100th birthday.