100 Years of Gratitude

Ana Lintao recently celebrated 100 years old with family and some long-time Molokai friends

By Léo Azambuja

In January, Ana Lintao celebrated her 100th birthday with family and some of her long-time Molokai friends. More than half a century ago, she and her small family came to Molokai from the Philippines. As she got older, she moved to Maui to be with her daughters, but her heart never left the Friendly Isle.

“Pray every day, green tea with three scoops of sugar and soda crackers for breakfast, a banana with every meal, Wheel of Fortune, walk laps around the house, smile often, occasional yardwork, and always ask where everyone is” are Lintao’s secrets to long, healthy life, according to her granddaughter, Jackie Ruiz. 

Lintao celebrated 100 years old with family and friends on Oahu on Jan. 22. Ruiz said her grandmother’s birthday celebration was a “beautiful and rare occasion.” Two of Lintao’s friends from Molokai flew over to celebrate the special occasion with her. 

“She was happy to see them. Her vision is a little bad, so it took her a while to realize who they were,” Ruiz said of her grandmother reuniting with her Molokai friends on her birthday.

Lintao emigrated from the Philippines to Molokai in 1973. She came with her husband and their two daughters, Ofelia and Rose. 

“My mom was 16 and my auntie was nine,” Ruiz said of her mother Ofelia and her auntie Rose.

Lintao worked in the Dole pineapple fields that once prospered on Molokai, and after that she worked on Hawaiian Research’s corn fields. 

Her daughters grew up, got married and the family got bigger. She now has six grandsons, four great-grandsons, and Ruiz, who says she is Lintao’s “only favorite granddaughter.”

At some point, Ofelia moved to Maui, where Ruiz was born. But Ruiz developed a strong connection with Molokai at a young age. She would come here often to visit her grandparents and has fond memories of them while growing up. 

“I would go frequently on summer breaks,” said Ruiz, whose uncle owns Big Daddy’s Restaurant in Kaunakakai.

On Molokai, Ruiz would go fishing at Rice Patch Beach quite often with her grandfather. She also spent a lot of time with her grandmother.

“We used to walk from her house in Kaunakakai to town to do our grocery shopping, because she didn’t drive,” Ruiz said of her time with Lintao on Molokai. “This is when my grandpa was at work.”

In the early 1990s, Lintao’s husband passed away, and she moved to Maui to live with her daughter Ofelia. About a year ago, they both decided to temporarily move to Ruiz’s home on Oahu to help her with her four kids.

Ruiz said Lintao’s vision is not that great lately, so she can’t go outside on her own. But it doesn’t stop her from exercising twice a day.

“She’ll just walk in the house, she’ll just go to the furthest room, then go in the living room, around the kitchen, and then just to do the same route a couple times a day,” Ruiz said.

When her vision was better, she loved to sew and keep the house tidy. And she was a talented cook.

“Our favorite dish that she would make for us was the chicken hekka, and she had the best scrambled eggs,” Ruiz said.

Lintao is an early riser who has breakfast at 5:30 a.m., lunch at 9 a.m. and dinner at 4 p.m. 

“She’s a great eater. She eats a full plate despite her age,” Ruiz said. “She’s small, but she still can eat a lot.”

In between meals, Lintao loves her naps and to sit on her green recliner chair to watch her great-grandsons play. 

“I have four boys. They’re really loud and she gets entertained just by watching, because they’re a bit much,” Ruiz said.

In a sense, Lintao is still taking care of the whole family, Ruiz said, adding everyone is “super grateful” to her grandmother because if it weren’t for her, none of them would have been around today. 

After seeing her grandmother reach 100 years old, Ruiz had to change her prayers a little bit.

“It’s something that I’ve prayed for ever since I was younger, ‘Please bless my grandma to live to 100,’ and it’s crazy that she made it this far, and so next prayer is until 105,” Ruiz said.