Rosemary Turns 100

If you walk into Beulah Heights First Pentecostal Church on Orchard Street for the worship service on any given Sunday, chances are that an impeccably dressed older woman with twinkling eyes will wish you good morning, welcome you to her church, and encourage you to sit as close as you can to the front. 

That woman is long-time parishioner Rosemary DeCosta Hoke who, on a recent Sunday at Beulah Heights, with her 13 grandchildren and 15 great grandchildren looking on, celebrated her 100^th birthday. 

The day-long affair, which included cake in the church basement and Sunday brunch with her family, began with a rousing service at the church, complete with a proclamation from the mayor and impromptu remarks from Hoke herself.

“I’m just a people person since I was a little girl,” she told the packed congregation, after leading a rendition of the gospel standard ​“Sweet, Sweet Spirit.” ​“I told all of my six children if they have a friend, just bring them home. I don’t have to know you to love you because the love of God is in my heart.” 

“That’s Nana,” said her granddaughter and primary caregiver Erika Bogan, who was visiting Hoke a few days later at her apartment in Westville. Bogan, one of the first Black female firefighters in New Haven, recalled frequent stays at her grandmother’s house as a child. 

“Erika has always been my baby,” Hoke said. 

Born on Webster Street in Newhallville in 1925, Hoke grew up in New Haven with two older sisters and an older brother. Her father, John DeCosta, a Portuguese native, died when she was 2 years old. Her mother, Mary Jane Cables, was a laundress for wealthy New Haven families. As the first female evangelist and one of the original members at Beulah Heights, Cables could preach and baptize. 

“She was a loving person, and fun, and she could write poetry about anything,” said Hoke, as her cockatiel BeBe, named after the gospel singer BeBe Winans, chirped away. 

Hoke remembered Troup Middle School trips to Woolsey Hall, where she formed an enduring love for classical music. She excelled in drama and public speaking and played basketball at the Dixwell Community House, clad in the requisite rompers.

There was hardship. Her mother died when she was 13. Her oldest sister, who had three children of her own, assumed custody of Hoke and her siblings. Money was tight. While at Commercial High School, she needed new shoes. Wait until my husband gets paid, her sister told her. Two days later, she was walking down the hall while changing classes when she heard her sole flapping. A janitor cut the piece off, but she was mortified. She told her sister she didn’t want to go back. Fine, her sister said. I’ll put you to work. 

There were babysitting jobs and cleaning jobs. When she was 17, she went to work at Winchester Repeating Arms at the height of World War II. There, among other jobs, she scraped the burr off triggers.

“That was a good job because we all had our own little tables and we got to wear these white cotton gloves,” she recalled. There were other, messier jobs that involved larger machines that ran on water and oil. ​“I didn’t like it so much, but it had to be done,” she said. 

Always there was church. ​“I could go to church feeling sad, and if it’s a real good service, it has always made my heart feel better, and that’s true to this day,” she said. 

What she loved more than anything else was singing in the choir. Curtis M. Saulsbury, father of legendary basketball coach Bob and leader of the Curtis M. Saulsbury Choir, was brought in to teach the group to sing in different vocal types. ​“I was a real good alto,” she said. There were church trips to Lighthouse Park with hotdogs and giant caramel lollipops that would get stuck in her teeth. ​“Church was just enjoyment,” she said. 

When a young man was wooing her, he knew, she said, that she would only marry someone in the church. ​“He told me, ​‘I’m going to join that church,’ and I said, ​‘Don’t join it for me because I don’t even like you,’” she said, giggling. He persisted. They married and had six children. 

There were other adversities. Hoke had to learn to perform dialysis when her husband was diagnosed with kidney disease. He died in 1981. She lived through the loss of five of her six children. 

Still, there was always church. ​“Church is in me, it’s always been in me, and how I thank God for that,” she told the congregation. ​“When you think you can’t breathe another breath because of whatever is happening in your life, know that the church is right there, and know that it will put love in your heart.

“God gave me the gift of love,” she said. ​“It’s just that simple.”