Damaride “Dora” Carissimo didn’t need any prompting to join in a toast Wednesday in recognition of her 100th birthday. The event was celebrated at Cornerstone Adult Services in Apponaug and included a visit from Mayor Scott Avedisian, who presented her a proclamation and joined in singing as she blew out candles on a cake. Dora has led a full life. While working as a seamstress in the New York City garment district, Dora met her future husband, who was studying to become a doctor. They married and they went to Bologna, Italy, where he went to medical school, and she became a nurse. After graduation, he opened an office in Rome and soon became the preferred doctor for American filmmakers shooting in Italy. They lived there for 25 years, said her daughter and only child, Terri Powell. Dora and her younger sister, Rose Saccente, 92, now both live with Powell. “I wish I was half as much a mother to my kids as she was to me,” says Powell. Dora has three grandchildren and six great-grandchildren. Wendy Studley, one of her grandchildren, joins her here.

Her daughter is seen above.