A Good Age: Milton's Mae Ryan had 4 parties to celebrate 100 years. Her secret? 'Be your best'

MILTON – As more people reach age 100 and pandemic restrictions ease, centenarian birthday parties are on the rise again, and they're good for the spirit.

Here is a look at two past and one future.

Mary "Mae" Ryan never really thought about living to a ripe old age, but when she made it into her 90s, it occurred to her that "I just might make it to 100."

Now that she's there – she became a centenarian in mid-July – she considers herself very fortunate.

"Thanks be to God, I have my mind and I'm on my computer," she said, describing with pride how she goes online to do her banking and pay her bills. "I don't have to buy stamps and I don't have to go to the post office."

She has lived in the same house for 62 years, where she and her late husband, George, moved on their 15th wedding anniversary in 1960. He died in January 2021, at age 99.

She is able to get around safely with a walker, handles her own personal care and has regular help from her two daughters, Kathy Ryan Lavery, 71, and Mary Louise Ryan, both of Milton, and overnight support from Home Instead senior care.

"It's very expensive," Ryan said, adding that she knows how important it is to stay independent and healthy. Her two sons, G. Thomas Ryan, of Eastham, and Edward Ryan, of Canton, are nearby and help out.

Her longtime neighbor, Jeanne Leslie, is a nurse and a regular card-playing visitor.

Ryan has three grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.

Asked her key to longevity, she said, "I paid attention to my health."

She is a four-time survivor of cancer, a different type each time. She was first diagnosed 33 years ago, the last 14 years ago. None were treated at the time with radiation or chemotherapy; surgeries provided the cure.

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Her advice for others: "Nobody wants a complainer around. Every day, you have to be your best."

Her friends at the Milton Senior Center say she is just that, an "amazing" role model who often wins at "hand and foot" – related to the game canasta – when she plays cards there every Monday.

After last week's card game, the center held a party for her that included a fun-loving skit called "Blue Hair Parody" and "A Frivolous Old Gal," an irreverent piece about the changes age brings. The latter appeared years ago in Dear Abby, came from a church bulletin and has endured.

When time came to blow out the candles on the cake, Ryan deftly took the knife she was using to cut the pieces and waved it through the air to snuff out the flames. Brenda Mellor and Liisa Salmi were there from Home Instead, which provided the cake.

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A full life

Mary Roper grew up in Dorchester, graduated from St. Gregory's High School in 1939, and married George Ryan in August 1945, when both were 23. George was home on leave from the Army during World War II at the time.

"I was married to the best man for 75 years," she said.

Ryan said she is especially grateful that she retains her mental sharpness. She took care of both her parents and her mother-in-law in her home for many years and watched her mother develop Alzheimer's disease. She described the poignancy of the one moment when her mother came briefly out of the fog of memory loss and suddenly knew who her daughter was again – for 10 minutes.

"We both cried, we were so happy," she said.

She attends Mass at St. Agatha's Parish in East Milton on Saturday nights and still keeps score for the church's bowling group, which she helped found in 1962. She also volunteered for 28 years at the church bingo games.

In the summer she enjoys weekends at the family home in Eastham on the Cape.

Before the senior center party, she had three others: one for 100 family members on the Cape, another with 85 friends at the Common Market in Quincy and a third with her bowling group, which planted a tree in her name in Cunningham Park.

She enjoys repeating state Sen. Walter Timilty's parting words: "I'll see you in five years."

Another centenarian

Congratulations to Gertrude "Trudy" MacDonald, who celebrated her 100th birthday July 14 in Quincy. Kathryn Campbell, 86, and other friends from her former water aerobics class at the South Shore YMCA  took her to lunch at Jake's Seafood Restaurant in Hull and arranged for a birthday greeting on the Dairy Freeze sign in Quincy.

"She's a lot of fun, very inquisitive, with a wonderful sense of humor," Campbell said.

"Life isn't always what you want it to be, but you have to go along and you have to push yourself sometimes," MacDonald said. She finds turning 100 is "quite an accomplishment" and takes each day at a time.

"Don't overdo, trust in the Lord, be kind to others, treat others like you want to be treated."

Serving up another

Isabel  "Izzy" Bryant, of Lakeville, who grew up in Plymouth and lived most of her life in Middleboro with her late husband, Elmer, will turn 100 on Aug. 10.

A first-generation Portuguese American, she worked for 25 years as a hairdresser and has one son, Roger, of Plymouth,  two grandchildren, six great-grandchildren and two great-great-grandchildren. Her family will  host a party at a Carver restaurant.

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Reach Sue Scheible at sscheible@patriotledger.com.

This article originally appeared on The Patriot Ledger: Milton's Mae Ryan turns 100 with advice to 'be your best'