LONGEVITY TIPS HELP OTHERS, SAYS 90-PLUS CROWD.

Byline: Mariel Garza Staff Writer

Ada Robinson will turn 91 next month, but the decades haven't slowed the great-great-grandmother from Pacoima.

Sure, she supervises the volunteers who feed the homeless at Hansen Dam instead of cooking the meals herself, as she once did every Thursday for years.

But that's just because of the wheelchair, which hasn't kept her from regularly attending Calvary Baptist Church in Pacoima and volunteering in the community and at senior clubs, where she is known as ``Mother Robinson.''

``I knew God would let me live here awhile because I was so nice growing up,'' she said Tuesday.

Robinson was among Los Angeles senior citizens 90 and older who were honored Tuesday at an annual celebration hosted by the city Department of Recreation and Parks and the Federation of Senior Citizens Clubs.

This year's event, held in the Friendship Auditorium in Griffith Park, drew about 350 people: honorees, their guests, volunteers and a few city officials, such as City Council members Tom LaBonge and Janice Hahn.

There has been a steady increase in recent years in the number of Los Angeles residents who are 90 and older and still active in senior clubs, said Stan Kalsman, Senior Citizens Section director for the Department of Recreation and Parks.

The department feted 110 of them in 1999 and 140 in 2000, he said. This year, the event honored 191. Although not all were able to attend, about 150 did. ``So you're all doing something right,'' Kalsman told them.

At 90, Robinson was one of the babies of the crowd whose oldest member was Anna Johnson, 104. That seemed young to Robinson. One of her grandmothers lived to 117 and ``had every one of her teeth still in her head,'' Robinson said.

Robinson moved with her family from Louisiana to California in 1943, and in 1962 she settled in the San Fernando Valley, where she's been ever since. She long ago joined Calvary Baptist Church, which she still attends.

Robinson stays close to her five-generation family, including two children, five grandchildren, six great-grandchildren and seven great-great grandchildren- the youngest of whom is not quite 2.

But even with many descendants, Robinson finds time for more than her family.

Twelve years ago, she encountered a group of homeless people at Hansen Dam. Noting they had pots and pans, she made a mental note to herself to bring food the next time she visited the park - something nice and simple, like rice and beans.

Ever since then, she has distributed food every Thursday and earned one of her nicknames, ``Thursday's Angel.''

She's convinced that her community involvement has something to do with her healthy long life: ``I'm still kicking, and I got all my marbles.''

While Robinson was one of the younger honorees, Perry Kinney was one of the older.

A 102-year-old resident of the city of San Fernando, he was crowned king of the celebration, a distinction that he took quietly. ``It's very nice,'' Kinney said, fingering the red felt crown on his head.

Theresa Pucillo of North Hollywood, a former factory seamstress for 30 years in Mount Vernon, New York, knows what has kept her going all these years: ``Good living and a good husband,'' she said.

The 94-year-old was married for 67 1/2 years before her husband died four years ago.

Anne Klugman of Van Nuys still lives on her own at age 92 and keeps active in the Valerio Senior Club.

``What's my secret? To keep going - not to lie around - and keep active,'' Klugman said. ``That's what I do.''

CAPTION(S):

2 photos

Photo:

(1 -- color) Perry Kinney, 102, and Anna Johnson, 104, reign Tuesday as the oldest city activists.

(2) A senior citizens' dance troupe shows off fancy footwork Tuesday at a Griffith Park celebration.

John McCoy/Staff Photographer