Nelly Nasch celebrated a century of life on June 19 at a gathering of her friends and family at Windemere. Her party was complete with cake from the Martha’s Vineyard Hospital’s dietary department, gifts and flowers galore, Nelly’s favorite music — Mozart and Edith Piaf — and 100 years of memories made throughout the world.
Nelly has lived in five cities and learned French, English, and Spanish in addition to German, her mother tongue. She has been adored by many friends and a loving husband. She has seen war and occupation, and she has seen survival and the growth of her legacy and family, which includes two daughters, four grandchildren, and nine great-grandchildren.
Nelly was born Nelly Auslaender in Franzenthal, Austria, in 1914. At age 18 she traveled to Bucharest, Romania, to study pharmacy, and there she met her future husband, Josef Nasch, another pharmacy student. The two married and Nelly became a pharmacist known for “her great relationship with customers, her hard work, and dependability,” according to a biography of Nelly’s life written by her daughter, Adriana Stadecker of Chilmark.
Nelly and Josef raised two daughters, Adriana and Michelle, in Bucharest before the 1948 Occupation of Romania by the Soviet Union compelled them to move their family to Western Europe. But work there was hard to find, due to the influx of returning World War II soldiers. The family gathered their belongings once again and headed this time for Buenos Aires, Argentina, in 1951, though neither Nelly nor Josef spoke a word of Spanish. Nelly’s maiden name “Auslaender” means “foreigner” in German, so perhaps she was destined to travel.
In Buenos Aires she and her husband opened a toy factory and became close with the large Romanian and Austrian populations in the area, as well as with many Argentine families. The two worked there for 20 years before setting off on a series of world travels. Nelly’s favorite, according to Adriana, was Bora Bora.
Their children, too, began lives on new frontiers. Adriana moved to Boston with her husband and son, and Michelle to Vancouver with her family. When Josef passed away in 1987, Nelly joined Adriana and her family and lived with them in Boston and San Francisco. According to Adriana, Nelly led a happy life playing bridge and reading books. She volunteered in the children’s section of the Newton Public Library where she has had several books donated in her name.
In her more recent years Nelly’s main focus has been her children and grandchildren. “They all call her Oma,” which means “Grandma” in German, Adriana wrote in an email to The Times. “She was always particularly close to her four grandchildren despite the distances that separated them.” So close, even, that she knew of all the happenings in their lives, “whether it was an exam at the university or a date with their fiancé.”
Nelly has lived at Windemere, where she has befriended the nurses and many other residents, since 2010, when Adriana decided to retire to the Island. The celebration at Windemere was a precursor to a larger party to come; since Nelly’s great-grandchildren left school for the summer, she was able to ring in 100 years with even more of her loved ones by her side. On Tuesday, July 1, Nelly’s family from the first to the fourth generation feted their mother, friend, and Oma at Farm Neck with a party featuring mac n’ cheese and crab cakes to accommodate the age range, and a decadent chocolate cake.
“The greatest legacy that Oma has left to her family besides wonderful memories are the values that she espoused and lived by,” Adriana wrote in Nelly’s biography. “She is deeply loved by her family and her friends for her kindness, concern and unwavering support. For her, her family is sacred.”