Marine Corps veteran and centenarian from Jericho shares advice for a full life

Decide what you want to do and do it.

That’s the advice for a life well-lived from U.S. Marine Corps veteran Tess Pierce Garber of Jericho, who celebrated her 100th birthday on Aug. 29.

“I think I’m lucky,” Garber said soon after celebrating her centennial birthday with a steak dinner. “I’ve done everything I wanted to do.”

Those accomplishments included serving her country during a war, a bat mitzvah at age 70 and maintaining a 66-year marriage.

Raised in Cleveland as the second of four children of two Russian immigrants, Garber said as a shy kid with a curious mind, the age of 14 was pivotal in her life. It’s when her interest in serving in the military was piqued — setting the direction of her life.

“Joining the Marines was the best move for me because they taught you, your belonging to them was an asset both to your country and yourself,” she said. "I believe that and carry that sense of pride with me always."

In July 1942, the U.S. Marine Corps Women's Reserve was established as part of the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve. Garber enlisted in 1943 when she was 20. She was part of the first wave of women allowed in the Marine Corps, to do noncombat jobs that let more male colleagues fight on the front lines of World War II.

Garber was assigned to the signal corps at the Navy Annex in Arlington, Virginia, as a Teletype operator. She was charged with notifying the next of kin of service members who were wounded or killed, something she said began to take a toll on her, especially when she saw the name of her mother's best friend's only son listed as killed in action. 

By the time Garber completed her three-year “very exciting and challenging” military career, she had made it to the rank of sergeant.   

Her interest in the military began as a teenager as she learned about the fight of Jews to establish the State of Israel. 

“I was impressed that the women were an important part of their armed forces,” she said.

Garber, who is Jewish, said at first she thought she might want to be part of the fight to establish a Jewish homeland.

“But then Pearl Harbor and our country was at war, my older brother was already overseas, my younger brother was soon to be drafted,” she said. “I felt I should be able to do my share, too, for my country.”

Like all Marines, she had to complete a grueling boot camp, which she did at Camp Lejeune in North Carolina.

“It was hard work,” Garber said. “But when you’re 20, 21, you can do anything you make up your mind to do.”

Just before her military career was over, she met U.S. Army veteran Morry Garber in December 1945 at a temple in Washington, D.C. He playfully hit her with a pingpong ball and said, “Hey, Marine come have a game.” She agreed, and the couple married about six months later. They eventually settled on Long Island with their two children, first in Hempstead and then in Jericho. He died in 2011, Garber said.

Garber's post-military career included working for the United Nations when it was in Lake Success and eventually for the Nassau Library System.

U.S. Marine Corps veteran Bill Ober, chairman of the Veterans Advisory Board for the Town of Huntington, spoke at a recent celebration for Garber, pointing out that women like her paved the way for other women to serve with distinction in the military today.

“Marines, in particular, were traditionally all male and very much macho,” Ober said in an interview. “I salute her.”

Garber said she’s proud of leading the way for women to serve in the military. But she said she is not a hard-line feminist.

“Anything a man can do, a woman can do, and she should be given the opportunity," she said. 

Garber said that includes women fighting in combat — although as a mother and grandmother of one, the idea of war now makes her shiver. She said the biggest challenge of her time in the service was confronting sexist attitudes from men.

But Garber said she dealt with it, because she was used to doing so both in military and civilian life.

“The Marine Corps taught me to follow orders,” Garber said. “But I also learned to stand on my own two feet — and I think it helped me to not be afraid to try something new.”