Eleanor Terjesen Celebrated her 100th Birthday on January 17th!

Eleanor was born January 1923 in Union City, New Jersey to the parents of William and Louise Kerl. Eleanor had a younger brother William and they went to Emerson High School. One evening during Eleanor’s Junior year in high school, Eleanor went to a party with and there she met a young boy named George Terjesen from Cliffside Park High School. They dated off and on for nine years before they got engaged. After graduation of high school in 1940, Eleanor went to Katherine Gibbs Secretarial school, New York City and George joined the United States Navel Construction Battalions, better known as the Navy Seabees. Eleanor didn’t see George for a couple of years but they wrote back and forth. Eleanor worked for the American Home Products, Jersey City then later New York. Eleanor worked with the company for six years.

George was near the end of his time in the military after two to three years and sent Eleanor a telegraph that he was coming home and wanted to marry her. George came home on Christmas Eve in 1945 and went to Eleanor’s house and insisted Eleanor come up to meet his mother in River Edge, NJ. While George and Eleanor were in the car on the way to meet George’s mother, George proposed to Eleanor. Once they got to the house, Eleanor met George’s mother and the other family members they had at the house. George had to report back to the military base the day after Christmas knowing he would be discharged from the military.

January was soon around the corner and George gave Eleanor an engagement ring on her Birthday. Eleanor and Gorge got married November 17, 1946, St. Mathews Lutheran Church, 2201 New York Ave., Union City, NJ. They had their reception in Hoboken, NJ. The couple lived for a while with Eleanor’s parents. Eleanor and George started their family, they had two sons, Keith and Neil. Eleanor was also got a job as a tester with Central Labs part of Maxwell House when the instant coffee came out.

In 1963 George and Eleanor bought a house in Silver Beach, NJ and kept their apartment in Union City near her parents. Eleanor husband worked as a machinist while she became a housewife.

Eleanor recalls a family vacation to Williamsburg, VA and loved all the sites they visited. Eleanor also enjoyed watching her sons surf down in Silver Beach.

Their son Keith married Hilary Ann Koyen September 25th, 1976, in Point Pleasant Beach, NJ. Keith and Hilary spent over 40 beautiful years together raising their two children on the Outer Banks. They had Kira Terjesen, granddaughter Madison Webster of Colington, son, Cheyne Terjesen and his wife Danny of Dana Point California.

Their son Neil married Leslie September 12, 1980 in Princeton, NJ. Neil and Leslie are married over 30 years together a daughter Jill and a son-in-law Robert Herbst.

“I have no secret to living to a 100. I’m to young to be 100.”

I can’t get use to what we have today. Back in the day we had roto dial phones and now we have ipones. We inserted paper in typewriters and used correction tape for any mistakes. Now we have laptops and printers. If we were lucky, we had encyclopedias in our homes or go to a library. Now a days we have everything at our fingertips via the internet. My husband and I drove a 1947 chevy with roll down windows and now a days all cars automatic windows and air condition. I would love to have a new car, that practically can drive themselves. We all gathered around the record player to listen to music we bought on vinal records. Music came out on 8-track, cassette and to Cds. I recall the following presidents in office, we had President Calvin Coolidge (1923-1929) when I was born and President Hoover, Roosevelt, Eisenhower to Ronal Reagan. The one thing I always think of is the price of coffee, it was .59 lb. back then. There is noting like a good cup of coffee.