Still stylin' at 100: ex-lingerie model likes to look her best


Mary Quimby has lived through 18 presidents and remembers every one of them. Teddy Roosevelt was in charge when she was born 100 years ago.

On her centennial Jan. 10, Quimby stopped at a west Cobb salon for her weekly shampoo and set. She wanted to look her best for a five-day cruise to the Bahamas with her family.

What the former lingerie model and dress fitter didn't expect was a surprise party after she got her hair done.

As Bass Hair Salon stylists greeted her with colorful balloons, a box of linen handkerchiefs and a chocolate cake, Quimby scolded daughter-in-law Janet Terrasse, for not telling her to put on makeup before she left home.

"In my whole life, I have never gone out without my makeup," she said as Terrasse handed her a lipstick.

After Quimby broke her hip three years ago, she and her husband of 60 years settled in west Marietta with her son Nick Terrasse and his wife.

She has a son and daughter in their 70s, 10 grand-children and 23 great-gandchildren.

Quimby, the daughter of Italian immigrants, grew up in New York. As a teenager, she went to trade school and learned to make dresses. She said her best customers were $100 call girls.

Quimby credits her longevity to speaking her mind and the truth --- even if it is colorful. Her grand-daughter, Mary McQuaig of Marietta, said her Nanny is as feisty today as she was 50 years ago.

She played golf every day, sometimes 36 holes, until she moved to Marietta. At 95, she shot a 37 in a nine-hole tournament in central Florida where she lived for many years.

"I eat grapefruit every morning. I never eat between meals and I keep my mind sharp," she said.

As for keeping her 90-year-old husband, Chuck, happy, she has advice for younger women today.

It's important, she said, to have similar interests. Her husband loved golf so she learned to play. He was a minor league baseball player and manager and she learned to love the game.

"It's important to make him love you more than you love him," Quimby said. "Your marriage will last longer."


Copyright 2008 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

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