Centenarian says being busy is the secret to longevity

Intermountain Catholic

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Ida Stonda Brunatti (seated) is honored by Catholic Woman's League officers Rosa Key and Rosalie Mirabelli for serving the league for more than 50 years. Photo courtesy of Dennis Brunatti

SALT LAKE CITY — Ida Stonda Brunatti celebrated her 100th birthday March 18 with family, and the next day at a party at Saint Ann Parish, where she has been a member since 1943.

"I never thought I would live to be 100, but the party they had for me was one like I’ve never seen before," she said adding that her house smelled like a florist shop from all the flowers she received. "People ask me what my secret is to living to be 100 and I tell them keeping busy," she said.

The Catholic Woman’s League honored Brunatti for her more than 50-year membership and her support. She also received a certificate into the Century Club of Utah from Utah Governor Gary Herbert.

Many wished her happy birthday and wrote in her scrapbook how they love hearing her stories. She has many stories, but her favorites are about playing the accordion.

She started performing in 1926, when she was 15 years old, and was the first professional woman accordionist in the western United States. She performed for more than 50 years. In her later years she played the accordion free of charge at numerous civic, charitable and religious social gatherings and events. Because she is petite, her accordions were made lighter specifically for her, by hollowing out the keys. Her accordion instructor was Sam Pezzopane, who also performed with her.

"The one thing I enjoy more than anything in the world is music," said Brunatti. "I started taking piano lessons and wasn’t enjoying it, but then Sam came to our home and played the accordion, and I said, ‘That’s what I want.’ I started practicing and in no time at all I had a booking agent. He asked me if I wanted to play on stage at the Paramount Empress here in Salt Lake. I said, ‘I would love to,’ but he said I had to know how to play "Me and My Shadow." So I quickly learned it and played it for him over the telephone. The next day I was on stage and from that time on, I was booked all over at the western United States, including the Hotel Utah, The New House Hotel and the Capitol Theater in Salt Lake City. I also performed at parties and small engagements with my sister, Rita, who played the saxophone. We were headlined as the Stonda Sisters."

Her music brought a call from a Hollywood movie producer, but her parents said she couldn’t go. "They said Hollywood was too rough for me," she said.

Brunatti was born in 1911 to Joseph and Clara Berta Stonda, and grew up a member of the Cathedral of the Madeleine Parish. One of her prize possessions was her first radio that ran by a car battery and had to be charged once a month. "I listened to anything that was on," she said.

She married Renaldo J. Brunatti in 1933 in the Cathedral of the Madeline, and they raised three children. They received a Papal Apostolic Blessing from Pope John Paul II on their 50th wedding anniversary.

Brunatti has many accomplishments, including being a scout leader, a blue-ribbon gardener, an oil painter, a charter member of the Italian-American Civic League, and membership in the St. Ann Women’s Guild, the Salt Lake Council of Women and the Catholic Women’s League. At 90, she was the oldest volunteer in the 2002 Winter Olympic Games. She has traveled the world and now enjoys spending time with her family, four grandchildren and six great-grandchildren.