North Carolina Woman Known as ‘Jewel’ of Community Celebrates 100th Birthday

A woman in Clayton, North Carolina, celebrated her 100th birthday on Tuesday dressed up in a yellow lei and festive gold-colored party hat.

Margie Adams is the oldest resident at the Gabriel Manor Assisted Living Center and everyone there considers her a “jewel” of the community,  ABC 11 reported.

“During her long life, Margie has worked as a nurse and cosmetologist. She even sang the original jingle for RC Cola in early radio ads,” the outlet said.

Photos showed Adams in front of big pink signs outside the assisted living center that read, “Happy Birthday Margie” and “You Are Loved.”

Good sleeping habits, taking a vacation, drinking less, embracing one’s faith, and staying social were included in AARP’s 2017 list of ways to live a longer and healthier life.

The list also included exercise:

What’s the best prescription for a longer life? Exercise. And doctors are literally prescribing it instead of medication. “There is no pill that comes close to what exercise can do,” says Claude Bouchard, director of the human genomics laboratory at Pennington Biomedical Research Center in Louisiana. It benefits your brain, heart, skin, mood and metabolism. Even as little as 10 minutes of brisk walking can help (that’s all it takes to burn off the calories of one chocolate chip cookie). Once you can do 10 minutes, push it to 15. Then 20. Start slow, but just start.

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The benefits of a brisk walk are real: A University of Pittsburgh study of adults 65 and older found that those whose usual walking pace exceeded one meter per second lived longer. While researchers say they can’t recommend brisk walking as a panacea for living longer, they did see increased survival in those who picked up the pace over the course of a year.

Adams, who was married for 75 years and is a devout Christian, told reporters clean living is the secret to her long and happy life.

“Yeah, I don’t smoke and I don’t drink. I used to when I was a teenager, but not now,” she commented.