Estelle Jaffe, Lifelong Rockawayite, To Celebrate 100th Birthday

By Katie McFadden

On February 2, 1926, Estelle Jaffe came into the world. That means this Monday, this lifelong Rockawayite turns 100!

Not many can say they spent their entire life in Rockaway, especially for 100 years, but Estelle Jaffe stakes that claim. Born in Rockaway Beach Hospital, she never moved away from the peninsula! Estelle Rosenzweig was born to parents, Benjamin and Pauleen, the youngest of seven children. They all grew up on the beach block of Beach 85th Street, and Jaffe can still remember her cat named Pina and dog named Whittie.

For 100 years old, Jaffe’s memory is impressive, and that wealth of knowledge and experience shows things have certainly changed on the peninsula over the last century. Jaffe can recall her favorite spot on the beach, Greenberg’s Candies on Beach 84th Street and Rockaway Beach Blvd., where she could get several pieces of candy for just a penny. Next to Greenbergs was Cotts grocery store. She even remembers the names of two men who worked there, Ben and Sam, and how her mother would give her a nickel to pick up milk and bread. That gave her some change leftover, which she would give to charity. Greenbergs and Cotts are both long gone. But what Jaffe misses most of all are her parents and sisters, who she thinks about often and has fond memories of coming home to her family.

Estelle met Jack Jaffe, a U.S. Airforce WWII veteran and a mechanic for Loeb and Mayer on Rockaway Beach Blvd., and the two got married in 1949. They never had children, but they did leave a legacy behind, running Arverne Automotive, or Channel Drive Service Station, on Beach 59th Street, right near one of their favorite spots, Cappells Marina, now Marina 59, where they would take their boat out named “Foo,” Estelle’s nickname, out into the bay to enjoy fishing, one of their favorite activities. The gas station was built by Jack Jaffe and Louis Cappell in 1949, and Estelle worked as a longtime bookkeeper there until the late ‘80s. In her spare time, besides spending time on the boat, Jaffe enjoyed playing bingo at the parlor where Key Food and CVS now stand around Beach 88th and Rockaway Beach Blvd. And she and Jack spent their spare change as benefactors of Peninsula Hospital.

Jack Jaffe died in January 2003, but Estelle still lives in Rockaway in her home on Beach 148th Street in Neponsit. After all, it’s a place she loves. At 100 years old, Jaffe says she’s content with everything she has, finding pleasure in the little things like phone calls and visits from family and friends, Popeye’s chicken, and the simple views outside her home. “I’m sitting on my couch, I’m in my living room looking out the window at the snow on the rooftops and it’s so beautiful,” she said with joy on Tuesday.

What’s the secret to making it to 100? “Love, New York Times crossword puzzles and Riunite Lambrusco,” she said.

On Monday, Estelle will enjoy a little Lambrusco and lunch from Ciros while surrounded by family, neighbors and friends and even her longtime physician, Vicky Backus, who made a promise to come to her birthday celebration if she made it to 100.

Brad Goodman, Estelle’s nephew, had worked at Channel Drive Service Station since 1977 and took over the business after his uncle Jack left it to him, until he retired in 2022. He’s looking forward to flying up from Naples, FL to host the celebration for a remarkable woman who means so much to him.

“I’m not loving coming back to the cold but we’re not going to have Estelle forever,” Goodman said. “Estelle is my aunt, she married my mother’s brother, Jack, and even though he passed, I’ve continued being her nephew and we stayed fairly close. I’m very grateful for everything she did for me and my family. She and Jack treated me like the son they never had. I was a little boy when they moved to the house on Beach 148th and I remember sitting on the floor of the living room and they had a reel to reel tape recorder I used to play with. Jack saw I was interested in doing things like that and I think it’s why he had me work with him at the service station. When Hurricane Sandy hit, Estelle stayed with me, and I had my guys from the garage come clean up her house and rebuild it so she could stay here. It’s one of the things I’m really proud of. She’s so happy and content to still be in Rockaway.”

Happy 100th Birthday, Estelle! Enjoy the Lambrusco!