'Fifi' is feted by Griswold Senior Center

Jeanne Obriskie, age 97, is 'Fifi' to the regulars at the Griswold Senior Center. Photo by Janice Steinhagen.

It was a double celebration for Jeanne Obriskie of Jewett City on Feb. 17, as staff and members at the Griswold Senior Center marked both her 25 years of service at the center and her 97th birthday.

Obriskie, affectionately known as “Fifi” by her friends at the center, shows up faithfully every day the center is open to work in the kitchen and help serve meals, said center Director Tina Falck. “She lives for this place, she really does,” she said. “She’s up and ready for this building every single day. If I can do half of what she does now when I’m 80, I’d be happy. She’s a marvel.”

Born in the French countryside, Obriskie said she moved to Paris at the age of 15. “I delivered meals and served people. I delivered the milk. I worked very hard,” she said. She met her American husband, who was in the U.S. Army, in Paris during World War II. With him she traveled to Africa and then to New York before settling in Jewett City.

Claire Craig, who drives the senior center bus, said that Obriskie “had it really tough in her younger days.” Her husband died young, leaving her with two children, Phillip and Vivian, whom she raised herself. She worked at the former Triangle Plastic Wire and Cable to pay the bills.

When she was struck with cancer about 15 years ago, Obriskie drove herself to the chemotherapy sessions, Falck said.

“I got a kidney out, and I’m okay. I’m all right. I take care of everything by myself,” Obriskie said.

Craig said that Obriskie lives on her own and takes regular walks through town to run her errands. “God forbid I try to help her” with shopping bags, she said. “She doesn’t want anybody to wait on her.” Her grown children and two grandchildren live nearby.

“I don’t cook [any] more,” Obriskie said of her work at the center. “I work in the kitchen, do a little bit of everything. I’ve got my family… and I’ve got two cats.”

“We couldn’t let this day go by without something for her,” said Falck.