‘At 101, you’ve had it all’

The brownie that came with Genevera Gustafson’s lunch Thursday was trumped by an elaborate, two-layer, lemon blueberry cake adorned with two flickering candles, courtesy of Friends in Service to Humanity.

Serving Gustafson since 2004, Thursday’s delivery was exceptional for two reasons. It celebrated the active senior’s 101st birthday and also marked the last meal she would receive from the Costa Mesa nonprofit, which announced its impending closure last week.

Gustafson was surprised and delighted when Mobile Meals program coordinator Valerie Miller and Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian’s executive chef Sam Sellona surprised her with the birthday cake.

“This is such a great and nice surprise,” Gustafson said, adding that she didn’t mind eating cake before lunch for the special occasion.

Playing piano two or three days a week at the Costa Mesa Senior Center and often crocheting hand towels to vend in the center’s gift shop — despite her arthritis — Gustafson speculates that her devotion to music may contribute to her longevity.

After celebrating her centennial last year among 100 friends at the center, she had no special plans in mind for Monday — her actual birthday — content to spend the day with family.

“I’ve had so many birthday celebrations, I don’t need any more,” she said

“At 101, you’ve had it all,” Miller added.

As the trio savored the treat, Gustafson expressed her appreciation for the service Friends in Service to Humanity has provided her over the years, with the support of Hoag.

“I just like anticipating [the volunteers’] arrival,” she said, chuckling. “It has really helped me.”

In addition to preparing her two daily meals, the hospital has funded her Lifeline — an emergency response button she wears around her neck at all times — and will continue to do so after the organization’s clients are transferred to the Costa Mesa and Oasis Senior centers.

Miller assured Gustafson that she would remain in good hands after next week’s transfer, adding that the new organizations, Feedback Foundation and South County Senior Services, would provide “good meals with 100% of the clients’ daily nutrition.”

Still, Sellona is saddened to see the program leave Hoag, where — serving a comparatively small client base of 90 people — he has been able to devote more attention to the preparation of the meals than he was able to do working with other meal-delivery providers, which often have several thousand clients.

“I always tried to get away from the institutional-type cooking you might find elsewhere,” Sellona said. “Our clients are stuck in their environment, so I always liked to give them something exciting and new to look forward to.”

As she left Gustafson’s Costa Mesa home Thursday afternoon, Miller — who once brought her daughter on a delivery so she could meet the centenarian — said she was going to miss all the volunteers and clients she worked with at Friends in Service to Humanity, especially Genevera.

“I look at her, and I think she is just amazing,” she said. “I hope when I’m older, I have the same sweet temperament as her.”