Julia Dobitsch from Bergenfield, NJ, doesn’t think her 100th birthday was a big deal, because she had celebrated 99 other birthdays before. She was born as Julia Hafner on Aug. 9, 1906 in Gerersdorf bei Güssing, and was only 16 in 1923 when she boarded a ship to the U.S. to join her sister, Stella, in Allentown, PA.

Though Julia said the United States was “heaven” after her difficult time in Austria, she had to work very hard. Twice a week she went to dances with her sister Stella, where she met a young man named Frank Dobitsch who had also emigrated from Austria. A year after they met they were married and Julia still wears the ring that Frank placed on her finger 79 years ago. Frank passed away on Christmas Day 1989.

Today, Julia misses dancing but loves spending time with her family.