Atlantic City native Donald DeGrazia is now 107 years old — yes, you read that right — and is now living in Linwood. He has more than a century of memories, milestones and improbable encounters — stories his son, Gregg DeGrazia, says still define his remarkable father.
When someone lives beyond 100 years, it’s often asked what the secret is to their longevity. His son believes he has a few.
“He drinks two to three glasses of wine every night… he swears by that,” Gregg said. He has also maintained a strict Mediterranean diet and, perhaps most importantly, a calm mindset.
“He doesn’t worry about anything. He lets everything roll off his back and he doesn’t sweat the small stuff,” he said.
Family traditions have shaped his decades. Sunday dinners — “the big Italian meal” — remained a constant until recently, and the beach was his lifelong sanctuary.
“He loves the beach. He never stopped going to the beach until a couple years ago. And that was his favorite thing to do and his off time was [spent] hitting the beach,” Gregg said, ” He was like that from when he was a kid.”
Donald and his wife, Clare, who passed away in 2017 at age 95, shared 71 years of marriage and had two sons, Donald and Gregg. The couple met on the Atlantic City beach after World War II and enjoyed skiing, ice skating and winter sports in their early years together.
Born in 1918, Donald grew up during a changing era at the shore. His father was a concrete contractor who rebuilt the footings for Steel Pier after a fire, and Donald would help him while going to school.
Donald graduated from Atlantic City High School in 1937 and entered the Navy just before World War II, working as an apprentice machinist at the Norfolk Naval Yard.
After the war, he returned home to continue his career — though some of his most treasured memories came from childhood.
At age 11, Donald attended an exhibition game between the New York Yankees and the Philadelphia Athletics at Bader Field. He caught a foul ball and chased down the Yankees’ team buses afterward.
Donald was picked out of two kids to go on board the bus to have his ball signed by Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig and other famous Yankee players. After leaving the bus, he even snagged a signature from Athletics star Jimmie Foxx. Gregg said his father recalls this story often.
But days later, during a neighborhood game, the prized ball was lost forever when Donald used it to play baseball with friends and one of the kids hit it over the bulkhead into the bay.
“He regrets that he did that with the ball. He wishes he had it to this day,” Gregg said.
Donald’s boyhood also included glimpses of history. He met Charles Lindbergh during a barnstorming tour at Bader Field and, in 1937, watched the Hindenburg fly over Atlantic City an hour or two before it blew up in Lakehurst.
Today, Donald lives at Brandall Estates in Linwood, where family visits almost daily. Although he has slowed down, his spirit remains unchanged. Gregg said that what he most admires about his father is the fact that he doesn’t let anything bother him.
“No matter how bad a day he’s having, he’s always upbeat. I never heard him really get mad … His disposition probably helps him live as long as he has. I try to model myself after him, but it’s not so easy,” Gregg said.
Julia graduated from Rider University in 2024 with a BA in multiplatform journalism and minor in social media strategies. In addition to reporting on local news for Shore Local, she is a social media strategist for small businesses. Connect with her: shorelocaljulia@gmail.com or @juliatrain on Instagram.
