CALIFORNIA'S OLDEST GAL: 112 AND COUNTING.

Byline: Dana Bartholomew Staff Writer

EAGLE ROCK - She has bridged the closing of the American Frontier, the opening of the Age of Flight and the breach between the 19th and 21st centuries.

Margaret ``Madge'' Russell, California's oldest living resident, celebrated her 112th birthday Sunday within an elite circle of six other centenarians.

``Oh, golly,'' said Russell, 112, of Eagle Rock - the only two words she would utter at a high tea held at Solheim Lutheran Home in Eagle Rock, where city officials and family members honored seven residents who have lived past their 100th birthdays.

Born Margaret Culver in Guthrie, Okla., in 1892, her birth preceded the second election of Grover Cleveland, America's 22nd and 24th president, and she will likely live past the next presidential election Tuesday.

Considered the seventh-oldest American and the 21st-oldest person in the world, Russell has one other claim to fame.

A devout Christian Scientist, she has seen a doctor - once.

``She fainted one day, teaching,'' said Fred Bonn, 64, of Laguna Niguel, her great-nephew.

So a doctor looked at her, which she had never had done, in accordance with her religion. ``He told her she had a bad heart, to take it easy.''

Her secret, according to officials at Solheim, where she has lived for 16 years:

--Get out early in the morning.

--Drink lots of water.

--Avoid doctors.

``I love everybody, and I try my level best to be good to them,'' said the former saleswoman, garment finisher, teacher and boardinghouse owner before she lapsed largely into silence three years ago.

``The more we love, the happier we are. It doesn't pay to go around with hatred in your heart.''

Russell was raised in Baltimore in a wealthy family that manufactured wood stoves. In 1927, she arrived in Los Angeles with her husband and two young children, who are now dead. Divorced twice, she reared both children largely by herself in Eagle Rock.

In her lifetime, she's seen the invention of the zipper (1893), the motor-driven vacuum cleaner (1899), the safety razor and the radio receiver (1901), and the airplane (1903). She's seen the Spanish-American War and the War on Terror. She's seen myriad medical advances.

A lover of fine antiques and hats, she's seen the demise of fancy headwear. A lover of music before the Victrola, she's played patriotic songs and hymns on the piano for more than a century, always ending with her favorite, ``The Holy City.''

On Sunday, she sat blind and mostly deaf, her cloudy blue eyes' focus seeming to drift around the room. Nearby were six other centenarians: Mamie Underhill, 107; Alice Prosser, 105; Dorothy Steen, 101; and 100-year-olds Lucille Drews, Marie Loy and Florence Lybyer, who was the first woman hired by the Glendale Fire Department.

``When you're 112 years old, you get to be a birthday girl,'' said City Councilman Antonio Villaraigosa, who awarded each woman a special certificate.

``To celebrate the birthday with vibrant women, who have been here a long time, who have a lot of spunk, it's a real honor. Feliz cumpleanos!''

Norma Heaton, executive director of Solheim Lutheran Home, said that good care, good food and a loving spiritual environment help each resident get the best of years. When the home was built in 1954, Russell was 62.

``She'd wake up in the middle of the night and pray for the people here, for the staff,'' recalled Heaton of her oldest guest, a lover of the outdoors. ``She has never taken any medication - none. No surgeries. She really is an amazing woman.''

Dana Bartholomew, [phone]

dana.bartholomew(at)dailynews.com

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3 photos

Photo:

(1 -- color) RUSSELL

(2 -- 3) Margaret Russell's family photos, left, include her baby picture from 1892. Below, Russell receives a proclamation from Councilman Antonio Villaraigosa at her birthday celebration on Sunday.

Tom Mendoza/Staff Photographer