By Noreen Santaluce
Connie Faucher is a truly remarkable 100-year-old woman. She is attractive, outgoing, friendly, intelligent and interested in people and current events.
The week of her 100th birthday was typical of her still busy life. On Saturday she attended an Anointment Ceremony at Saint Joseph’s Church. Sunday was the large birthday celebration at Mid County Senior Center with more than 100 friends and family members in attendance. Connie sat at the head table with her cousin Mary Mazzaglia who will be 100 in April.
Monday was spent visiting, and on Tuesday she was at the Senior Center for Bingo in the afternoon and Tuesday Night Live in the evening. On Wednesday, she and her Personal Attendant Cora Campos rode the bus to Cache Creek Casino for the day. Friday was taken up with a Halloween Party at the Nineties Club and Sunday she attended the Italian Catholic Foundation. Each organization paid tribute to her 100 years.
Connie was born in Lawrence, Massachusetts and moved with her family to San Jose, California, where they purchased orchards.
She worked in the orchards and canneries until she received a Teaching Degree at San Jose State. During World War II she taught typing to servicemen.
She met her husband, Fred Faucher, on the Bumper Cars at the Santa Cruz Boardwalk in 1944 and they were married in 1945, a marriage that lasted for 67 years until Fred’s death in 2012. The couple lived in San Jose where Fred was with I.B.M. and Connie owned and managed Garden Villa Rest Home for 36 years while raising their two sons.
When Connie decided to sell Garden Villa and retire, the couple moved to the spacious home that Fred had built for them in Soquel. They became very active in the social life offered by local organizations and in volunteer work. They worked together in preparing fund raising dinners for the Mid-County Senior Center, and became famous for their Corned Beef and Cabbage celebrations for Saint Patrick’s Day and their Spaghetti Feeds. They were also participating members of Capitola Saint Joseph’s Church. The couple could be seen enjoying all the social activities offered by these organizations.
Travel was one of their hobbies, and together they went on 17 ocean voyages. Connie was accompanied by family members on a cruise to Hawaii this spring.
Today, Connie still lives in the home that Fred built for them with her personal care giver, Cora Campos. She does her own bookwork and prepares her taxes on the computer, entertains family members and friends. She is an active member of her church and The Nineties Club, plays Bingo every week, collects the food tickets at the Tuesday Night Live Dinners, likes to go out to lunch and is always ready for a new experience.