Maguerite Grassie of Rochester is already looking forward to her 107th birthday

ROCHESTER — Marguerite Grassie agreed to meet with this reporter in a year for her birthday, which will be her 107th.

Born in 1918, she turned 106 on Aug. 8 and is still loving and living life to the fullest of her abilities. She has six grandchildren, 16 great-grandchildren, and five great-great-grandchildren.

"I wish I could still dance," she said, the only wistful thing she expressed about the state of her life. "I loved dancing, but it's hard for me now."

Grassie lives at the Studley Home in Rochester, a senior living facility that she worked at until she "retired" at age 84.

"She is a little teeny thing," said her daughter, Annette Plante. "She shows not one sign of dementia, and she has never had any one part of her body removed; she has all the original parts."

Grassie worked the night shift at Studley's.

"I took care of everyone, and they were usually asleep anyway," she said. "I set the dining room tables. I folded laundry. I loved it."

"They love her at Studley's," said Plante. "They took her to Hobb's Harborside restaurant in Wells for her birthday. They brought her in a limo, and she had champagne. She is the queen there."

"They take very good care of me," said Grassie. "They brought a cake to me at the restaurant, and everyone, even the waitresses sang for me. When we went out, everyone in the restaurant called happy birthday to me."

Grassie raised her family in Dover, Somersworth, and Rochester. Before her second retirement from the Studley Home, she worked in the shoe mills in Dover.

She loves the maple squares at Harvey's Bakery and her favorite color is purple.

Life was simpler when she was growing up, Grassie said. A teenage night out meant roller skating at the Humoresque in Rochester.

"We went roller skating in the summer, and ice skating in the winter," she said. "I used to ride at the end of the whip (a long line of skaters). I loved it."

Her first kiss was at age 16.

"I don't remember who it was," she said.

She was an adult when she got her first television, a small black-and-white model.

"I think my favorite invention is my hearing aid," she said. "It makes a big difference for me. I don't know anything about that computer stuff."

Grassie said the world moves too fast and is too chaotic now.

"I wish it was better," she said. "I wish everyone lived in peace."

Grassie said her secret to a long life is simple - keep moving. However, she has never been on an airplane.

"Don't let the couch own you," she said. "Keep moving and never stop. I don't want to stop. I love life."

Grassie's three children, Annette, 87, Donald, 80, and Donna, 68, will always be Marguerite's babies.

"I am their mother," she said, looking fondly at her children, now grown.

"She is a heck of a mother," said Annette.

"She is the glue that keeps this family together," said Donna. "I admire her work ethic. I do not think she missed a day of work in her life."

"Probably not," said Grassie.

"She's pretty special," said Donald.

It is not hard to imagine keeping that birthday date, same time, next year.

This article originally appeared on Fosters Daily Democrat: Maguerite Grassie of Rochester is already looking forward to her 107th birthday