She lived on her own in Weymouth until she was 106. Now 107, Jennie Zaborski aims for 110.

ROCKLAND – A family photograph shows Jennie Zaborski at age 4 in her Quincy home holding her favorite doll. She has a shy smile and sweet, jaunty expression. The year is 1918.

More than a century later, in a photograph taken last week, you can see traces of that girl, still looking curious and game to go. Jennie is smiling and waiting to open her presents and cut into her 107th birthday cake.

The photo was taken at Webster Park Rehabilitation and Healthcare Center, where Jennie has lived for the past year. Before that, she called Weymouth home for 40 years. She lived independently at Calnan Circle senior housing for the last 20 years.

On Nov. 1, a family group of 10 gathered in the Webster Park dining room to celebrate her remarkable longevity. Her surviving son, five grandchildren, one great-grandchild and three others were there.

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Asked how she was feeling at age 107, she replied, "Disgusted!" and smiled, expressing impatience over having to wait for the late-afternoon party to begin.

"She's amazing," her son Teddy, 79, of Attleboro, said. "If she doesn't like something, she'll let you know. She's entitled. ... She paid her dues."

The party was arranged by her oldest grandson, Paul Zaborski, 59, who also lives in Rockland and is an emergency department nurse at South Shore Hospital in Weymouth.

Since his father, Jennie's oldest son Walter Zaborski, died of cancer in 2005 at age 66, Paul has become the closest to his grandmother. He is her main advocate, handles her affairs, has lunch with her every Tuesday and acts as her health care proxy.

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When she was 103 and needed surgery on her gallbladder, it was Paul Zaborski who arranged for her to have the procedure successfully done in Boston. She also passed a nuclear stress test at age 105 to have leg surgery.

Jennie lived independently into her 106th year, when her legs gave out. She used hand weights to exercise at home until age 105. She subscribes to health newsletters, reads up on new medications and still gets a Mass General monthly newsletter called "Mind, Mood, Memory" devoted to mental health concerns of older people.

Drawn to the stories she told and old family photographs she located, Paul Zaborski developed an appreciation for what Jennie has gone through.

"Every time I think I know everything about family history and genealogy, something comes out of nowhere and she pulls out a photo," he said.

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"She didn't have much growing up and you wouldn't know it. She talks about having everything. Now she is allowed $73 a month for personal spending under Mass Health and she gives about $50 of that away to charities."

Jennie is very religious and her readings include Roman Catholic mailings.

At the party, Jennie showed her focus and determination as she opened her gifts.

Working slowly and intently, she pulled out tissue paper in a gift bag, gave a little laugh and said, "More socks!" She smiled and then re-wrapped the colorful socks given by Michelle Zaborski, wife of her great-grandson Mike Zaborski, of West Bridgewater.

When her time came to cut the Montilio's birthday cake, she pressed down on the knife and Paul Zaborski suggested she make a wish.

"To be 108," she said.

He recalled how after she turned 100, she declared, "I'm not ready to die," and set a goal of living to 110 and becoming a supercentenarian, a group she had read about. It is estimated there are between 150 and 600 people in the world who have reached the age of 110.

Born Nov. 1, 1914, in Quincy to Russian parents, Zina "Jennie" Sereduk was a young girl when her family moved to Paxton, near Worcester, where her father owned a farm. She worked on the farm, did not complete high school and taught herself how to read and write in Russian and Polish. She left the farm in 1937 when she married Walter Zaborski, who played in a traveling band with her stepfather. To this day, she calls the farm life one of her happiest times.

"I liked everything about it," she said.

The couple had three children; her daughter Rosemary Mathews died in 2020. The family lived in Dorchester and Roxbury. After her husband died in 1975, she moved to Weymouth.

Jennie also has seven grandchildren, 11 great-grandchildren and one great-great-grandchild. The other grandsons at the party were Wayne, Arthur and Billy Mathews, all of Weymouth, along with granddaughter Karen Coyle, of North Attleboro; great-grandson Mike Zaborski, of West Bridgewater; Paul's mother, May Zaborski; and his wife, Jeanne.

Reach Sue Scheible at sscheible@patriotledger.com.

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This article originally appeared on The Patriot Ledger: Weymouth's Jennie Zaborski celebrates her 107th birthday in Rockland