Ask Frieda McGuire the secret to living a long life and she has no answer. "I have no recipe for it," said the 105-year-old resident of Leewood Nursing Home in Annandale.
Part of McGuire's secret may be that she stays active and involved. When the War in Iraq began, she visited Walter Reed Hospital in Washington, D.C. Although she wasn't allowed to meet with wounded soldiers, she fondly remembers speaking to a U.S. Army sergeant at the hospital.
"That was a very, very happy day," she said.
According to Leewood director of activities Gloria Allison, McGuire is a whiz at trivia. Once, when she asked McGuire why she did so well at the center's trivia games, McGuire answered "If you live as long as I live, you just know everything."
Born in Michigan, McGuire married Leo McGuire in 1935. They had two children, daughter Mary Ellen and son Michael, who currently resides in Springfield.
Leewood staff and residents threw a birthday party for McGuire on Friday, April 8, so that she could spend time with her family on her real birthday, Sunday, April 10.
Friday's party featured refreshments and songs. Nearby, a table contained McGuire's high school yearbook, family photos and a scrapbook containing letters from such well-wishers as "Today Show" weatherman Willard Scott, George and Barbara Bush, Bill and Hillary Clinton, and President George W. Bush and First Lady Laura Bush.