Woman says living is easy at 102

STILL GOING STRONG—Agoura Hills Senior Retreat resident Madeline Perry follows along during a recent Friday Shabbat service. Perry will turn 102 on Aug. 19, a tantalizing reminder that children born today could live well into the 22nd century. According to Madeline Perry, God doesn't want to take her, and neither does the devil.

"So here I sit," says the spry centurion, who will celebrate her 102nd birthday in Agoura Hills on Aug. 19.

A resident of the Agoura Hills Senior Retreat, a senior living community, Perry still appears fit as a fiddle and maneuvers her walker as if she were participating in a race. She lived on her own in her Reseda home until she was 98. A burglary that occurred one day while she was out spurred her to move to the Agoura Hills nursing home, where she has been an active resident for the past four years.

"She has a lot of friends here," says Ahuva Barzion, special projects manager for the retreat. "The residents all love and respect her for her positive attitude and sense of humor."

Most Tuesdays you'll find Perry shopping at the mall with the other residents, indulging her passion for fashion, never tiring of being impeccably dressed and accessorized. When asked what her favorite fashion era was, she said, "The one when you could wear gloves and the hats with small veils."

Born in Chicago on Aug. 19, 1906, Perry was the oldest of nine siblings and has outlived them all. Her parents were Italian immigrants who entered the U.S. through Ellis Island. Perry remembers the day the Titanic sank, even though she was only 6 years old, because of the commotion it had caused in her household.

In 1955, Perry moved to California with her husband, a successful tool and die maker, and their two children, a daughter, now 80, who lives in Agoura Hills, and a son, 70, who lives in Reno. A homemaker, Perry loved to cook, shunning boxed and frozen foods, and making pastas and cookies from scratch for her family, including two grandchildren, five great-grandchildren and two great-great-grandchildren.

While Perry herself has never had health problems, when she was 57 years old she lost her 59year-old husband to a heart attack. "It was the year Kennedy died, too," she said, citing her favorite president. The widow sold the Encino home she and her husband had paid cash for and moved to a smaller one in Reseda, learning to do her own repairs and improvements. Never remarrying, she earned income by providing child care. She joined a travel group and shared with its members the most memorable moment of her life. "On my 95th birthday they took me to Laughlin, and Engelbert Humperdinck planted a kiss on my cheek during his performance."

It's never been her nature to resist change, said Perry, and she continues to enjoy being introduced to new things, like Judaism and challah bread. Raised as a Catholic, Perry joined the senior retreat's Friday Shabbat services, describing how she had eyed the delicious-looking bread which is part of the Jewish Sabbath service. "If that's all I had to eat, I wouldn't need anything else!" But, she added, "I do enjoy the service," and she participates in the songs and prayers. "As long as someone believes in God, that's also what I believe in," . . . even if he isn't quite ready for her.

At 2 p.m. Tues., Aug. 19, the senior retreat will host a community birthday party for Perry. The public is invited to join the mayor of Agoura Hills at the special celebration. The senior retreat's Friday traditional Shabbat service also welcomes the public every Friday at 3:30 p.m. For information, call (818) 991-3544.