Julia Giovannini sat in front of the keyboard and began to tap her fingers. She did not have any music sheets, barely looked down and was unfazed by her audience. It was clear she had years of practice, actually she had nearly 100 years of practice.

Giovannini turned 105 years old on Saturday, June 24, making her the oldest living person in Brockton. “My grandmother always said, ‘You can have everything in the world but if you don’t have your health then you have nothing,’” said Giovannini’s granddaughter Maria Murray. When Giovannini was born in 1912, in Brockton, William Taft was president, Alaska was not yet a state and Fenway Park had just opened for its first season.