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100 Reasons To Live

CANDACE C. MUNDY/TRIBUNE

Bert Green will be celebrating her 97th birthday on Oct. 12th.

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By JASON GEARY, The Tampa Tribune

Published: October 13, 2007

CITRUS PARK - After 97 years of living, Bert Green is eager to reach 100.

'A hundred is a good number. Besides, my parts are beginning to wear out,' she said.

The longtime Tampa resident proved her good humor hasn't worn out as she celebrated her birthday Friday.

The former manager of a luxury Bayshore Boulevard high-rise serving former governors and prominent businessmen, Green lives at the Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Village, an assisted living facility in Citrus Park.

She was to receive special recognition at Friday night's service at Congregation Schaarai Zedek on Swann Avenue. Her gift? A small package of raisins - as a tiny, tasty reminder to savor the sweetness of the moment.

'Bert is an incredible woman with tremendous energy and a wonderful outlook on life,' said Rabbi Richard Birnholz.

'She's always upbeat. She keeps current with national and international news ... She lets you know what she thinks. Her insights are usually right.'

Green was born Oct. 12, 1910, in Springfield, Mass.

'My birth certificate may say Bertha, but everybody knows me as Bert,' she said.

Her parents, Rose and Israel Feldman, owned a prosperous restaurant and delicatessen.

'On a Saturday night, there was a line waiting for the sun to go down so customers could go in because it was strictly kosher style,' Green said.

She described her parents and three siblings, all of whom have died, as a loving family.

'My mother was the firecracker in the family,' Green said.

When her father later started a junk business, her mother was responsible for learning about metals. She also was the one who learned to drive, not her father.

When a Florida boom began, Green's parents, her brother and one of her younger sisters moved to Tampa. Green and her other sister stayed behind with an aunt until their school year was complete.

'We came down on the train,' she recalled. 'You got three inches of dust on you. It was a hot, horrible trip, but we got here. The first thing we did was bathe and sleep.'

As strangers in a new place, Green remembered how her mother was confused on her first visit to Ybor City.

'To her, it Ybor sounded like Hebrew,' Green said. 'She thought she was going to Hebrew City.'

After some sales work, Green said she married her husband, Clifford, and had two sons, who live outside Florida.

When her children went to school, Green said she decided to work in real estate, took a class and held a job for a while. Then, she got a telephone call from a Miami businessman who hired her as manager for a new building called Harbour House.

Although an apartment complex when built in 1964, the building switched to condos in 1979 and 1980, according to Harbour House's manager.

Forty-three years ago, a story in The Tampa Times described Harbour House as a luxury $2 million, 13-floor apartment complex with lower level one-bedroom apartments starting at about $165 for monthly rent.

Harbour House was built on Bayshore Boulevard when high-rises with waterfront views were rare, the story states.

So was its manager: 'Mrs. Green is unconventional in many areas, such as being a woman manager of such a large complex,' according to a 1967 news article.

Green said she was friendly with many of the 'bigwigs' among her former tenants, including former Govs. LeRoy Collins and Doyle Carlton and prominent businessmen such as Jerome Waterman of Maas Bros. department stores.

After returning from a vacation, for instance, Collins' wife mentioned to Green that she was coming back to an empty refrigerator.

'While they were busy with other things, I set the table,' Green said. 'Then I put a little note on the refrigerator. They had lox, hardboiled eggs, sliced tomatoes, bagels and coffee. All she had to do was walk in and make a Sunday morning Jewish breakfast.'

Another company later bought the building and brought a new staff, she said.

'That was the end of my career,' Green said. 'I didn't care ... I enjoyed it.'

Her husband died in 1969. 'That was the first time in my life that I'd been alone,' she said. 'I was either with my mother and father or I had a husband.'

After moving into an apartment building where her friends were living, she found a boyfriend, Sidney Bleendes, a savvy businessman. They spent 23 years together before Bleendes' death Aug. 21, 1997.

'I had a wonderful life with him ... He was just good and sweet and kind and romantic,' she said.

This year, Green began living at the Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Village, where visitors such as Jane Bray, 57, of Temple Terrace, admire her charming personality, sharp wit and snappy dress.

'She always looks wonderful ... she is very fastidious,' Bray said. 'She cares about how she looks. She cares about how she speaks. She carries herself so well.'

Bray, whose mother lives at the facility, makes regular stops to visit with Green, dropping off chocolate and collecting smiles and kisses.

'It's just amazing to me that she's lived so long and so well,' Bray said.

ALL ABOUT BERT

NAME: Bertha 'Bert' Green

BORN: Oct. 12, 1910, in Springfield, Mass.

RESIDES: Green lives at the Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Village, an assisted living facility in Citrus Park.

FAMILY: Her parents, Rose and Israel Feldman, had three daughters and a son.

Bert Green had two sons with her husband, Clifford, before his death in 1969. She later had a boyfriend, Sidney Bleendes, for 23 years until his death in 1997.

BACKGROUND: In the late 1960s, Green served as a manager for Harbour House, a luxury high-rise apartment complex on Bayshore Boulevard. Her tenants included former governors and prominent businessmen.

SECRET FOR A LONG LIFE: 'I'm always asked that,' she said. 'I guess it's because I didn't sit on my fanny.'

Throughout her life, Green has been active in local Jewish community organizations, including the Council of Jewish Women and Hadassah.

Reporter Jason Geary can be reached at (813) 865-1505 or jgeary@tampatrib.com.

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