Features

Lily Hearst (nee: Lily Elisabeth Roger), the oldest citizen in Berkeley, died Wednesday at her home in her sleep.  

Lily was born in Oswiciem, Austria (Poland) on May 31, 1897. Her father was an official with the Railroad System of the Austrian Empire, a nd the family was living in Oswiciem at the time of her birth. She lived the first third of her life in Vienna. She was an avid piano student and a sports lover. 

She and her sister were among the most ardent and adventurous female skiers in the Vienna of their time, both proudly defying convention by wearing ski pants and rejecting skirts while on the ski slopes. 

It was on a ski train that Lily met her future husband, Alphonse Bernard Hirsch. Alphonse was a skilled mountaineer and skier, and it was this connection which initially brought them together. Climbing mountains was one of their great joys. 

As a married woman, Lily studied piano at the Music Academy of Vienna, and in the last decades of her life she was primarily known by her friends for her p assion for classical music. Her brother, Kurt Roger, was an accomplished composer. 

Following her marriage in 1929, Lily gave birth to two children in Vienna, Helga Louise in 1931, and Hans Eugen in 1935. In 1938, six months after the German anschluss, th e Hirsch family was fortunate to emigrate to the United States, and Lily’s life transitioned from her relatively privileged life in Vienna as the wife of a banker, to that of a woman raising two children in a third floor apartment in East Orange, NJ, whil e Alphonse commuted to his employment as an accountant in NYC. 

Near the end of World War II, Lily and Alphonse became American citizens and changed their family name from Hirsch to Hearst. During this period, Lily gave piano lessons to young students and retained her passion for music through attendance of concerts at Carnegie Hall and opera at the Metropolitan Opera. These years constituted the second third of Lily’s life. 

In 1970, Alphonse and Lily moved to Berkeley, California, to be near the family of their son who had been re-named John, a Professor of Chemistry at UC Berkeley. Thus, Lily began the last third of her life. Alphonse died in 1978. Lily retained her energetic interest in life for 26 more years, being an active member of the Berkeley Hiking Club and a swimmer at the Berkeley City Club, attending the North Berkeley Senior Center nearly every day, and devotedly attending both the weekly noon concerts at Hertz Hall on the Berkeley campus and every opera season at the San Francisco Opera. 

For years, she played and taught piano at the North Berkeley Senior Center. Up until late December 2004, Lily still rose early every morning to practice an hour on the piano, playing Chopin and Mozart before breakfast, and continued to give piano lessons to special friends. In the last three years, she was featured in the “How Berkeley Can You Be” Parade as the oldest living Berkeleyan. She attributed her longevity to her years of mountain climbing. 

Death came gently in her 108th year, on Jan. 19. She is survived by her daughter, Helga Shareshian, her son, John Hearst; four grandchildren, John and Steven Shareshian and David and Leslie Hearst; and by three great-grandchildren, Kiley and Zane Hearst, and Robin Shareshian. 

Donations in Lily’s memory may b e made to the North Berkeley Senior Center, 1901 Hearst Ave., Berkeley, 94709 or to a charity of your choice.