- July 2, 2026
-
-
Loading
Loading
While she was growing up, the person Marsha Kaplan admired most was her aunt Sylvia Waller.
Even though the Colorado resident isn't a fan of the Florida heat, she is counting down the days to her trip to Sarasota, for Waller's 105th birthday.
When she arrives, she will be among a gathering of four generations of family members, an event that has repeatedly taken place each year since Waller hit the mark of 100 — and kept on going.
“We've gone every year, 101, 102, 103, 104, so she's got quite a following, and she loves to see us,” said her grandson Sam Terman. “I think as she gets older, that's probably what she looks forward to the most, is seeing her family."
According to Kaplan, the centenarian has always had a passion for others. Like Waller, Kaplan had a career as a social worker, something she chose to pursue because of her aunt.
Today, as Waller approaches her July 10 birthday, she resides at the senior living community of The Glenridge on Palmer Ranch. She is well-liked by the staff, family members say, while many of her caregivers have become friends.
"Smile and the world smiles with you," Waller recited as the Observer paid her a visit. "Cry and you cry alone."
Waller has outlived many family members, including her two siblings, her husband Sidney Waller, and her daughter Marcie Waller Terman — Sam Terman's mother — who died last year.
"As you get to be 105, a lot of those people who care about you have died," her son Todd Waller said. "She's got the nursing staff at The Glenridge, and they all love her, and then she's got extra caregivers, and they all love her too. So she is loved by everybody that knows her."
Waller grew up in Evanston, Illinois, a place she describes as “a nice place to live” with “good people."
Her Jewish family fled Poland during the 1920s when she was just 6 years old at a time when antisemitism was growing and communities were threatened by anti-Jewish pogroms.
She later became a medical social worker in the Chicago area, and her activities included serving elderly Jewish people in Rogers Park, as well as at multiple city hospitals.
From 1945 to 1946, she joined the U.S. Army as a social worker for the Red Cross, which included serving hospitals in the midwest, assisting patients, and communicating with patients' families. Her work ultimately resulted in a citation from President Harry S. Truman in 1946.
It was also in the service, while on a train to a Kansas hospital, that she met her husband Sidney Waller, then an officer in the Army, who was on his way to be treated.
Waller said she and Sidney Waller both loved "all the same things." They were married for 69 years.
Sidney Waller served as general counsel for the National Association of Retail Druggists, as well as an adjunct professor of law and commerce at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, before he died in 1994.
Todd Waller said Sylvia Waller is very proud of her son and late daughter with double doctoral degrees — as well as her four grandchildren and two great grandchildren. (Todd Waller has degrees in both law and medicine, while Marcie Waller Terman had a doctorate and a law degree.)
Being raised by Sylvia Waller was an experience that involved repeated exposure to the arts.
With her, Todd Waller saw many plays, musicals and Chicago Symphony Orchestra performances.
"It was so amazing, and she would start talking about art at the Chicago Art Institute, or the (John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art), and the docents would stop and listen to her, because she just knows so much," he said.
“I was extra at the opera, but I didn't sing,” Sylvia Waller recounted. “You wouldn't want to hear me sing.”
All in all, the couple appeared in 33 operas, which included performances at the famous Chautauqua Institution in New York, and the Sarasota Opera.
“I was able to... get to know most of the people that are working there,” Waller said.
Their philanthropic endeavors were also recognized in the Chautauqua press, her son said.
Waller also used to be an avid painter. Hanging in her room at The Glenridge is some of her work, including dancing figures in flowing gowns and poses, and a Picasso-inspired piece.
Some of her other past activities included gardening and leading the bridge club at the Chautauqua Institution.
Meanwhile, the couple had the chance to travel extensively. Waller said she visited many places in Europe and Scandinavia. (Her favorite country was Africa.)
"We were in Africa, and a monkey just stopped, jumped on me," Waller said. "Everybody there was trying to save me from the monkey."
Some of her philanthropy has involved supporting Jewish organizations, and she has also been closely involved with Temple Emanu-El and its senior rabbi, Brenner Glickman.
“If anybody needs help, she'll help them," Kaplan said. "She is unbelievably generous.”
Kaplan said when her mother died in the early 1990s, she and Waller became even closer, with Waller becoming like a second mother to her.
“She'll break her back for anybody. She's just the kindest person, and my husband says he loves going out there because she treats us so well,” she said.
That followed with how Waller treated her children, she said.
“When you ask her, she won't remember their names, but if I start talking about them, she will,” she said.
What's the reason Waller has been through 104 birthdays?
Family members say one of the factors appears to be taking care of her health.
“I'm very proud of her,” Todd Waller said. “She keeps in good health. She's always kept in good health, she's always eaten right, so if there's anything that plugs eating right and exercising, it's her, because it's just remarkable how she's still mentally fairly sharp at 105."
Although she is in a wheelchair today, for years she attended athletic activities locally as well as at The Glenridge.
Her friend Linda Chandler, who met her while serving as her caregiver, said Waller still always wants to exercise three times a week.
"She only eats healthy foods, not sweets, not fried food," Chandler said. "And she has people around her who are young and they love her, and I think that's what keeps her going.”
"I've got good friends," Waller notes.
She also always looks forward to welcoming her family.
At her birthday celebrations, Sam Terman said one of the things she enjoys is having his elementary school-aged daughters dress up and dance for her.
“She's lived a very long and rich life," Terman said. "I don't know what her secret is, but she's got it. She's got lots of friends, is stimulated at the Glenridge. They treat her well. She always loves to see her great-grandkids dance. That's what she always says."
