Mildred Baron enjoys the many great things life has to offer.
Eating spicy foods, creating 3D art and attending afternoon cocktail parties are some of the ways she spends her days?maybe not the most typical activities for someone who turned 107-years-old last month.
When asked her cocktail of choice, she jokingly replied, “Beer,” shortly after changing her answer to ginger ale. “Can’t go wrong with that,” Baron laughed.
Born to a Jewish family in Brooklyn in the year of 1918, she was a toddler when prohibition began in America.
Baron falls within 1.9% of the New Jersey population ages 85 years and older, according U.S. census data. The oldest verified living person in New Jersey is 110-year-old Caroline Mckenna from Wayne, and Naomi Whitehead claims the title as the oldest person in America at 114-years-old.
As of 2025, Baron is one approximately 2,367 residents in New Jersey who are 100 years old or older, according to the World Population Review site.
Skip the beer, keep a positive outlet
Perhaps avoiding alcohol at her age is one of the many reasons for her remarkable lifespan, but according to Baron, the real secret to living a longer life depends on a positive, forward-thinking mindset.
“Be very calm, be peaceful and adopt my saying: ‘This too shall pass,’” said the Freehold resident of Applewood Village.
This outlook would get her through the global COVID-19 pandemic, World War II, and the Great Depression. Baron recalled the horrors of the Depression, seeing familiar faces standing in breadlines and notable figures of the time committing suicide.
She shared a vivid memory of her father Harry bringing home a sack of potatoes that her mother Sadie would prepare for her and her three siblings in order to survive. She lives years beyond her parents, who passed away in their late seventies.
She explained how almost all of the men she knew were drafted during WWII. During this turbulent time Baron found a job in accounting, an occupation she would stay in until her retirement approximately 42 years ago.
“But as I said, that too, passed,” said Baron.
Despite her cool as a cucumber demeanor, Baron has several things she’s passionate about, and family tops the list.
Beside Baron sits her only child, 80-year-old Bonnie Greenstein with whom she is very close. Over her life that spans nearly 11 decades, she calls her daughter, her two grandchildren and her five grandchildren her greatest accomplishment, as well as Greenstein’s husband Mark who she loves as if he were her own.
Greenstein praises her mother, stating, “She’s intelligent, a talented artist and knows what's going on in the world. She just gets it.” Baron’s only drawback, her daughter points out, is her hearing. To communicate, Greenstein speaks through a cardboard paper towel tube pressed against Baron’s ear, saying it’s the most effective way for her mother to hear.
Regardless of her ailment, Baron has a large community support at Applewood Village, an engaged senior living community she moved to shortly before her 100th birthday. Here, she helps plan parties, makes art and socializes with her fellow residents.
“Mildred is always the life of the party,” said Keith Grady, executive director at Applewood Village for the past twelve years. “She’s always been a concerned resident for others, just a real great neighbor to have. She’s always talking about the friendships she's developed here.”
The spice of life
One friend, 95-year-old Arline Fischer Baron befriended while living in Florida for 35 years. On a visit to New Jersey, Fischer was convinced by Baron to live at Applewood despite having no family here their friendship extended beyond borders.
“One thing you should know about Mildred? She lives off spices,” said Fischer. She said Baron even carried her only jalapenos on some occasions.
Baron says being surrounded by her loving family, friends and community at Applewood makes this the best decade she has ever lived.
“I can’t look too far into the future now, but I’d like to see peace in this world. All over. I don’t think I’ll see it, but hopefully it’ll happen someday,” Baron expressed.