Hilda Brown, 110.5 years young passed away peacefully on June 22, 2021 surrounded by her family at Tallwoods Care Center, Bayville.  She was born on January 20, 1911 in Musgravetown, Newfoundland.  She is the last of ten siblings.  Her mother died when she was 8 years old.  She remembered her Grandmother better who helped with the children as well as the older siblings.  As a teenager on a May evening in 1927, she witnessed Charles Lindbergh's Spirit of St. Louis flying over Musgravetown on his way to completing history's first solo transatlantic flight from NY to Paris.  She played the organ in her hometown church growing up.  In her 30's, she moved to Fort Lee, where she worked as a waitress for four decades after retiring to Bayville, NJ.  Hilda drove a car until she was 93 and walked until she was 103.  In her early 90's, she took a part time job cleaning at Bayville Manor Nursing Home.  She lived through two pandemics, the Spanish Flu of 1918 and now COVID-19.  Hilda tested positive for COVID-19 in November of 2020 and survived. 

As a young girl, Hilda often walked around the bay picking mussels.  Life wasn’t easy for her, her dad or her siblings.  She spoke about having a lot of chores at a young age.  One day she left home and walked to her aunt’s house.  The postman delivered the news to her dad as to her whereabouts via horse since there were no cars or phones at that time.  Another story she often shared, was she once took a boy out on the ice at recess and was late coming back and got her hand slapped by the teacher with a ruler.  She said she never did that again.  Through their hardships they took care of each other along the way never expecting anything in return. 

Hilda moved to Tallwoods Care Center in Bayville in 2014 where she often spoke about the exceptional care she received, most especially from her nurse Michele who adored her and her stories.  When her family visited her she expressed how grateful she was for their visits.  She enjoyed her birthday celebrations including mussels, pizza, cake and her black coffee.

Hilda gained her wings and flew home on June 22, 2021.  She is a legend in our family and inspired more people than she could have imagined.  She left us with so many priceless gifts strength, courage, morals, values, proper etiquette, faith in God, being grateful for what you have and family takes care of family.  What a life story and we feel blessed to have been part of her wonderful story.  110.5 years is a great run.

Hilda leaves behind her nephew Robert Tapp, his wife Barbara, great-nephew Rob Tapp, his wife Dawn, Matthew, Michael, Robbie, great-niece Kristen Tapp-Howe, her husband Doug, Julianne, great-niece Christina Baldo, her husband Mike, Taylor, Anna, Jonathan, Joey, great-nephew David Baldo, her dear friend Hild, and many other nieces and nephews in Newfoundland Canada.

A celebration of life will take place at Faith Community Church, 526 Atlantic City Blvd., Bayville on Sunday, September 26th at noon.