She has resiliency all the way down to a fantastic artwork.
A troublesome-as-nails 101-year-old Brooklyn girl took up coloring to deal with grief after her daughter’s demise — and is churning out the detail-oriented artwork regardless of being blind in a single eye.
Josephine Nigro — who defied odds by surviving an early case of COVID-19 — lights up the pages of her grown-up coloring books with a rainbow of gel pens to deal with the stress and unhappiness of life.
“It takes you away from actuality for a short time. It doesn’t promise you remedy … however it guarantees a diversion, in order that’s my passion. I adore it,” stated Nigro, of Borough Park, who was born in Brooklyn in March 1923.
A good friend obtained Nigro — who’s affectionately nicknamed Grandma Jo — her first coloring ebook a decade in the past after her solely youngster, Linda Vitale, died of breast most cancers, she stated.
“When she died, I believed I’d exit of my thoughts,” Nigro stated, including she wanted an outlet for her crushing unhappiness.
“A good friend mailed me a coloring ebook with markers … however I had no inventive potential or need for it. However since she was so type to ship it, I [said] I might attempt,” she stated, including she quickly fell in love with the passion.
Regardless of having no imaginative and prescient in a single eye, the spunky centenarian now makes use of a magnifying glass to paint completely contained in the traces with some assist from an aide.
“I can’t actually distinguish between an orange and different colours, but when I say, give me a purple, that’s what they provide me after which I form of steadiness the colours,” she stated, including she colours each day for an hour. “It’s all freestyle.”
The feisty fogey — who labored as a stenographer in her youthful days — was coloring a flower as she joyfully sang alongside to a Rod Stewart tune when The Submit visited her Friday.
In 2021, Nigro fell unwell from COVID-19 however managed to get well regardless of her age with some assist from the artwork to raise her spirits.
“I used to be sick, however it was tolerable and I went by way of the standard factor, however it wasn’t excessive and I used to be healed. I made it. I went by way of it,” she stated.
Nigro, who adores trend and massive band music, considers herself fortunate to nonetheless be mentally sharp.
“Thank heaven my mind is working. I actually don’t really feel my age. I don’t dwell on it. I don’t consider being younger … as you become old, simply settle for your luck,” she stated
When she will get down she offers herself a pep discuss — telling herself, “Who’s that outdated individual? It could possibly’t be me.”
Caren Lewis, considered one of her pals, referred to as her a firecracker with loads of enthralling tales about her lengthy life.
“She is wonderful. She has lots of spunk. I like to listen to her tales about her life. She amazes on a regular basis,” Lewis stated.
Her grandson, who’s a prosecutor in Virginia, now has her paintings hanging in his workplace, Nigro stated.
In the end, the important thing to an extended, comfortable life helps different individuals — and never folding when occasions are powerful, she stated.
“I’d say be type to at least one one other, be useful to at least one one other, encourage individuals, and when issues aren’t good attempt to make the very best of it, attempt to do the issues that you wouldn’t assume attainable,” she stated.
“I say stress you’re gonna discover, keep away from it when you possibly can — and overcome it the place you possibly can,” she stated.
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