Secret to being a centenarian: God, family, beer

By Christine Bordelon
Clarion Herald

What does it take to get to 100 years old? Two centenarians from different backgrounds and cultures in New Orleans have distinct stories.

Jerlean Williams, now a resident at Chateau de Notre Dame who turned 100 Feb. 13, credits drinking “Bud Light” on the rocks like her adopted mother did and having a strong Catholic faith.

“I walk by faith, not by sight,” Williams said, adding that she began losing her eyesight to glaucoma after Hurricane Katrina.

Herminie Simon Brack, who turns 100 on March 25, grew up on a small, working sugar cane farm with six siblings in Vacherie, Louisiana.

“Put Jesus first and your family next,” she said. One of her favorite phrases is, “We need to help each other.”

Have lived a full life
Williams, who was born at Charity Hospital, was adopted by loving parents Dora and Ben Porter and baptized at Holy Ghost Church (renamed St. Katharine Drexel) on Louisiana Avenue.

She recalled a happy childhood – one where she maintained a relationship with her birth mother who lived in California. She attended Thomy LaFon Elementary and then J.W. Hoffmann High School. One of her favorite pastimes was to dance the jitterbug and Suzie Q at the Palace Theater with the Harlem Hi-Steppers.

Williams studied to be a beautician at Katie Wickham’s School of Beauty Culture and Barbering on Dryades Street (now Oretha Castle Haley Boulevard). She opened her first salon, Jerri’s Beauty Nook, in her living room, then worked at a salon serving both Black and white clients.

She and her husband Clarence, whom she met after he served in the military, spent many evenings dancing at the Dew Drop Inn nightclub in New Orleans, where one night, she saw Nat King Cole walk in with his wife.

They had no children, but Williams amassed many friends over the years, including at her current church of Our Lady of Guadalupe, where she was a very faithful parishioner who often bought candles in the parish gift shop.

Williams has been an ardent Saints fan for decades, although she’s never attended a game, only watching them on television.

“I’m their momma,” she said, adding how she admires former Saints quarterback Drew Brees and running back Deuce McAllister, who has given her a signed football, one of her cherished possessions.

Our Lady of Guadalupe parishioners celebrated her 100th birthday with a party, singing her favorite song, “He’s Got the Whole World in His Hands,” and sharing a cake.

“She’s a Saints fan and always calls me during Saints’ games and says, ‘Who Dat’ and hangs up,” said Father Tony Rigoli, pastor of Our Lady of Guadalupe Church who often visits her at Chateau de Notre Dame where she now lives. Her teddy bear, named “Baby Tony” to honor Father Tony, sits near her as does a cherished rosary he gave her.

“Father Tony is my favorite priest,” she said with a big smile on her face. “He does everything beautifully, and he’s good with food.”

Our Lady of Guadalupe is home to the St. Jude Shrine, and St. Jude is Williams’ favorite Catholic saint, while St. Raymond is her lucky saint.

Hard working, close family
Brack attended St. James School and received all her sacraments at Our Lady of Peace Church in Vacherie. She was raised alongside her first cousins since her mother Georgine and Georgine’s sister Annette married two brothers. The close family lived, worked, played and prayed together on the same land. She remembered having dolls made from corn cobs and making her own paper dolls. An after-school treat was warm sweet potatoes.

In 1944, not long after Herminie married Prudent Brack, they moved to Jefferson and St. Agnes Parish. Their four children ­–­ one girl and three boys – all went to school there. Brack was a regular volunteer at St. Agnes School, a St. Agnes Altar Society member, regular daily Communicant, adorer in the parish adoration chapel and member of other parish organizations. She also helped with Little League teams.

“Her strong faith has certainly been instilled in our close-knit family,” her granddaughter Tammy Campo said. “It is that faith that has kept us close,” adding how Herminie continues to recite multiple rosaries daily.

Brack’s faith and love of St. Agnes Parish resulted in three members of her family being married there: daughter Gayle Brack Kopelman in 1961; granddaughter Tammy Kopelman Campo in 1986; and great-granddaughter Gabrielle Campo Hillman in 2019, carrying her great grandmother Georgine’s rosary in her bouquet. All three wore her hand-sewn wedding dress.

She now has eight grandchildren – the granddaughters attended Archbishop Chapelle and the grandsons attended Archbishop Rummel; 13 great grandchildren, all of whom attended Catholic schools; and three great-great grandchildren. Her children alternate days taking care of their mom in the same Jefferson home where they grew up. Her husband Prudent Brack, who died in 1972, loved beans, and she had to learn different bean recipes to feed him his favorite meal every night, Campo said. For years, she cooked big lunches every Monday for family and friends.

Words of wisdom
Williams wishes everyone peace, happiness, success and prosperity in their life.

“It’s beautiful to be 100 when you have all your faculties and remember,” Williams said.

Brack, too, cherishes her 100 years and her loving family.

“Keep your faith and love your family,” Brack said.

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