Centenarian's pals like sisters in cards

There are usually six seated at Lillian Anderson's kitchen table for canasta.

"It's best with six players," says Ruth Lehmann, 85, of Jericho, who has been playing cards with Anderson for about 23 years.

But Jeanette Sadowski, 87, a fixture at the biweekly card games, is in physical rehabilitation for an illness.

"We miss her," says Lehmann, who hopes her longtime friend will return.

The ladies have grown accustomed to the group's growing larger and smaller as friends have moved or passed on, but their love of the game and each other keeps them coming back, says Lehmann, who started the original card group in the 1950s with her sister-in-law.

Early on, she brought in longtime friends Sadowski, whom she met as a freshman in high school, and Minnie Wysolovski, 85, also of Jericho, whom she met in the fifth grade. The women still live within blocks of each other.

"We're like sisters," says Lehmann, noting Anderson eventually joined that group as well. Lehmann had known Anderson for years; her brother-in-law married Anderson's niece.

Back then, they played various card games, including poker and May I. About 18 years ago Wysolovski decided to start a separate group for canasta -- which is similar to rummy and usually involves two to six players -- and they eventually invited Anderson to play.

That was around the time Jericho neighbor Lucille Ganassa also joined them.

"I love the game," says Ganassa, who opted not to give her age.

And about 18 months ago they brought in Rose Ciesla, 79, also of Jericho, who started as a fill-in and then became a permanent member when another player passed away in December.

"They've been a blessing," Ciesla says.

The women make a ritual of the biweekly games, rotating turns for bringing baked goods and going out to eat for each other's birthdays. They've been playing canasta at Anderson's house for about the past six months. "I look forward to it," Anderson says.

And so does the rest of the group, whose members say they have no plans of stopping.

"We keep looking for recruits," Lehmann says. "We're going to play until we die."