Earlier this month Village Shalom resident Millie Reichelt reached an important milestone in her life when she marked her 100th birthday on Nov. 15. She considers herself blessed, having enjoyed a good and healthy life. When asked how old she is, Millie displayed her wonderful sense of humor by replying, “Sweet Sixteen!”
She has borne her years gracefully, continuing to pursue an active lifestyle. Millie is ready to participate in any activity including Shabbat services, excursions to places like the Overland Park Arboretum, happy hour, movies, cooking and exercise sessions. She especially enjoys Bingo and Pokeno and is an accomplished artist.
Millie was born and raised in the Flatbush area of Brooklyn. She has an older sister who lives in California and had two brothers. Her parents owned and operated a laundry business, which specialized in linens and draperies all done meticulously by hand. At a young age, Millie showed her natural talent for numbers when she served as her parents’ bookkeeper. She also enjoyed helping her father deliver their customers’ laundry.
After graduating from high school, where she was an honor student, Millie attended business school where she learned typing and shorthand.
She loved to dance and went every Saturday and Sunday to Danceland. Her favorite dances were the waltz, foxtrot and Charleston. She also enjoyed going to famous theaters, such as the Roxy and Paramount, where she saw performances by some of the biggest names of the day: Jackie Gleason, Frank Sinatra and Milton Berle.
Millie worked as a cashier in a restaurant where she met and dated her future husband, Ben Zedek. They lived next to Prospect Park where she was a full-time mother to their son Michael, whom she said was a very good boy and easy to raise. Millie was a good cook and loved to read. She learned to drive when she was in her late 40s or early 50s. In 1964, while Michael was in college, Millie’s husband Ben passed away. Afterwards, she was hired as a cashier at National Commercial Bank. She was very conscientious, always making sure that all the numbers were correct. Some years later, Millie married Herman Reichelt, and they lived in Albany, N.Y.
In Albany, Millie was very involved in the sisterhood at her synagogue. She was an active volunteer and an especially proficient fundraiser. She ran Bingo games and was active in the production of the annual sisterhood musical production. She also volunteered at a nursing home in Troy, N.Y., where her mother-in-law lived. One of the residents there was the mother of Kirk Douglas. The well-known movie actor used to visit her there, and he sponsored the addition of a wing onto the nursing home.
Millie’s son, Michael, became a rabbi, and in 1974 was named senior rabbi at The Temple, Congregation B’nai Jehudah in Kansas City. After Herman Reichelt died, Millie moved to Overland Park where she lived for a while at the Atriums. In 2001, she moved to Village Shalom. Millie is especially proud of her family: her son, Michael, and his wife, Karen; her two granddaughters, Betsy (and her husband Jeremy,) and Susan (and husband Joe and their two children, Sam and Julia).