Stern was born in Sioux City, Iowa, USA, on 27 February 1910. She was the oldest of four children born to David and Rose Maizel, both immigrants from Minsk Governorate, Russian Empire (present-day Belarus). Her parents were both tailors by profession. Her family moved to Kansas City in 1913, where she attended high school. Her father had a tailor shop in the city. In her youth, she worked as a cashier, then milliner. [source]

In 1933, she married Morris Stern. The couple had three children: Neuman, Philip and Jaclyn. Besides taking care of her children, she spent the great amount of time volunteering. She was a seamstress by trade, and she spent 40 years contributing to the Red Cross organization by making homemade hats and bibs for premature babies. She also worked with a group at Village Presbyterian Church to make sewn items for those in need. She was a long-time member of The Temple, Congregation B’nai Jehudah.

When asked about the secret of her longevity, she credited vitamins and the ability to release stress and focus on the positive, often reading Danielle Steele romance novels.

As a supercentenarian, she resided at the Atriums Senior Living in Overland Park, Kansas, where she died on 11 April 2022, at the age of 112. [source]