Three Leisure Living women celebrate their 100th birthday


Elsie Smith

Elsie Smith

Three residents of Leisure Living, an assisted community in Agoura Hills and Westlake Village, have either celebrated their 100th birthday or will soon mark the century milestone.

•Elsie Smith turned 100 years old on Feb. 19.

She grew up in Liverpool, England, and worked as a shorthand typist for an insurance company. Smith moved to California when her job was relocated to the states.

•Myra Hensley had her 100th birthday on March 20.

She and her five siblings grew up on a farm in Oklahoma. Hensley and her husband and son moved to California during the Great Depression to look for work, according to Leisure Living spokesperson Michelle Maurer.

Myra Hensley

Myra Hensley

The Hensley family lived on a 100-acre lemon ranch in Santa Rosa Valley, where she had two more sons.

Eventually, the Hensleys moved to Malibu, where Myra worked at the post office for many years until she retired.

•Rollie Gussin will celebrate her 100th birthday on May 13.

Born and raised in Chicago, Gussin’s father initially worked in vaudeville, then bought a Ferris wheel to rent out at county fairs and carnivals.

Her father opened the first Chrysler Plymouth DeSoto dealership in Chicago, where Gussin and her sister worked from a young age.

After Gussin’s two children were grown, she moved to California with her sister and daughter.

Rollie Gussin

Rollie Gussin

Acorn staff report