Super Novey.

A centenarian's sense of adventure carrier her to 2000

Ann Novey, 105--one of about 70,000 centenarians nationwide celebrating the new millennium--planned at press time in early December to toast 2000 with those she loves the most, her granddaughter and two great-grandsons, her only surviving relatives. But her celebrations haven't always been quiet. Take her trip to the Nile. At age 96, the resident of Goldpine Homes in Bemidji, Minnesota, was climbing Egyptain pyramids and crusing the Nile River in a barge with her best friend. The trip, which she took to fulfill a dream after years of reading about the ancient culture, was a high point but not out of character for the adventurous Ann. "If you aren't willing to take a risk, you won't be successful," she says. Even today, she paints her fingernails bright red, and less than a year ago, was still coloring her hair blonde. "Gentlemen prefer blondes," quips Ann, who says she has lived in three centuries "by the grace of God."

The assisted living resident marvels that she has witnessed Americans travel to the frontier of space after her family traveled through the American frontier. Her parents, who settled in Hennessey, Oklahoma, after the Sooner Land Rush, established the first Oklahoma fruit farm. Wagons were piled high with bushel baskets filled to the brim, Ann remembers. She still licks her lips whenever she spies an apple, peach, or apricot.

Home remedies may have helped her live a long, healthy life. "Gram always took a little jigger of apple cider vinegar every morning," her granddaughter, Susan Larkin, recalls. "She believed it cleaned out the pipes, cleaned out the blood." Longevity may also be in the genes. Ann's father died at the age of 99--in a car accident. And the centenarian always said she would "shoot for 150 if I made it to 100."

Ann left high school in December of her senior year to marry Grover Cleveland Ashburn, an up-and-coming politician in Oklahoma City. The couple had one daughter, Doris. Without modern medicine, Grover died of an appendicitis rupture, leaving Ann a widow and working mother. "There were some lean times," Susan says. "Gram would go on dates and bring back half of her meal for my mother."

After two disappointing marriages, Ann spent Saturday nights at Kochee's Ballroom in Oklahoma City with her friends. Dancing to the sounds of big band in a rhinestone blouse and glittery shoes, she met her fourth husband, the late Ed Novey. At age 80, she told Ed, 59, that she was too old for him. But with his persistence, she finally agreed to marriage.

At 101, Ann moved from her home in Oklahoma to a Minnesota skilled nursing facility. About a year ago, she came to the 34-bed assisted living facility located in the same town as Susan.

Ann enchants Goldpine staff and fellow residents with her Oklahoma twang, rhinestone sweaters, and gold tennis shoes. Although her hearing is very poor, Ann is able to communicate. She reads lips well and uses a chalkboard and facial expressions to help convey her thoughts. "She always gives us a big smile," says Barbara Crunden, nursing assistant. "She likes us to help her put makeup on, fix her hair, and apply perfume."

Ann knows she has aged with gusto. "Don't think of yourself as old, stay current, and don't dwell on the past," she advises.