When Helen Frank was born on May 12, 1921, Warren Harding was president, Babe Ruth hit new Major League Baseball records and the first vaccination against tuberculosis was developed.

She was the third and oldest girl of eight siblings, born and raised in Cicero of immigrant parents from Częstochowa, Poland.

And Tuesday, May 12, 2026, was her birthday party marking 105 years, held at Crescent Care in Elgin where she lives.

The party room was full of other residents, family and friends. A sheet cake proclaimed her birthday, and rows of cupcakes spelled out a big number 105.

The birthday girl wore a gold sash, a sparkly birthday tiara, her fingers flashing poppy red nail polish.

Crescent Care Activity Director Shamell Dew, who organized the party, led the toast, followed by Frank’s granddaughter Melissa Stringer.

“I am really speechless for all the love and gratitude and kindness you have bestowed upon my grandmother,” Stringer said. “This means so much to me and my family. I have no words. Shamell, you are amazing and without you this would never be a thing.”

Stringer held up her glass and said, “Much love to my grandmother, 105 years old, so let’s celebrate,” amid applause and cheers.

Despite her status as a centenarian, Stringer told some tales out of school about her grandma, who had quipped, “Life is too damn long.”

“She’s been planning her funeral since she was 55, so this is like – literally – I’m not making this up,” Stringer said. “She had it paid for, like all planned out and I’m like, ‘How about we live our lives?’”

In an interview before the party, Frank recalled her life, growing up during the Great Depression, painting with her father, marrying her husband Joseph Frank, raising her daughter and then having three grandchildren.

Because she couldn’t find her hearing aids, Dew sat with her and repeated a reporter’s questions directly into her good ear.

“I have hearing aids, but they are gone,” Frank said, smiling impishly. “I can’t seem to find them.”

Her memories included dancing at the Aragon and Melody Mill Ballrooms in Chicago, marrying her husband, then moving to Summit where she stayed home to raise a daughter.

She recalled her family’s home in Cicero being the neighborhood house for all the local children.

“Everyone would come to our house on our porch, all little kids,” Frank said. “When I was growing up, the world was different, a lot different than what it is today. ... It was better, much much better.”

She went to church and school at St. Mary of Częstochowa in Cicero.

“The nuns, some of them were angels, but there were one or two that were devils,” Frank said. “They had their ruler if you didn’t know your spelling words – in the wardrobe on your butt – boom boom boom boom."

She swung her arm to demonstrate the spanking.

“That’s how they were.”

Her husband Joseph came from the same town as her family in Poland.

“He was a wonderful person. Everyone loved him,” Frank said.

Joseph Frank was a sergeant and served in the U.S. Army during World War II.

“He almost got killed,” Frank said.

She recalled learning to bake bread from her mother-in-law, not by a recipe, but by watching her.

“She would say, ‘Listen, I am going to make bread today and I want all of you to stay out of my kitchen today,’” Frank said. “When you make bread, you cannot have any noise. No noise. ... My mother-in-law was a pistol.”

Her mother-in-law never used a recipe and never measured, so Frank said she learned by watching.

She tapped her temple to show how she memorized the process.

“It always came out right, yes,” she said.

Her granddaughter Melissa Stringer said she visits four times a week. Her grandmother was a big part of her life growing up, as she spent two months of every summer with her.

Then she had her own family in South Elgin and Frank lived in Chicago.

“I would bring her to my home once a month for a week and she got to see my three kids and be a big part of that,” Stringer said. “We played card games, Old Maid, bingo, a lot of crafts. ... She taught me a lot about family and putting family first. And to know how to be close and be there for each other – no matter what.”