101 YEARS AGO, KELLER BORN ON FOURTH OF JULY

Birthdays aren't explosive unless you were born on the Fourth of July like Laura St. Ann Keller.

Keller turned 101 years old Tuesday. About 15 friends gathered at the Chateau Girardeau to celebrate the occasion with her Monday evening.

"She's a great sport," said her friend and attendant Hattie Bohnert. "Last year we had an open house but this year it's a little calmer."

Other than the party, Keller didn't have any special plans for celebrating her 101st birthday.

"I don't feel any different," Keller said. "I'm just a year older, like when I was 25."

Keller was born July 4, 1894, at Redding Ridge, Conn. As a child, she had a choice between fireworks and watermelon on her birthday. She usually chose the watermelon.

"Maybe I was cheated out of a birthday, but I've always had attention paid to it," she said.

When Keller was 6, her family moved from New York to Malden. Her father was publisher of the Dunklin News newspaper there.

In 1918, she moved to Cape Girardeau with her family.

"I was away much of that time," she said. "I taught in the East."

Keller taught English and drama in New Brunswick, N.J., for many years.

She graduated from Teachers College in New York in 1926. When she retired from teaching in 1967, she returned to Cape Girardeau.

For almost 20 years, she owned a historic home called Westlane. She also owned an 80-acre farm just outside the city limits before moving to Chateau Girardeau.

Keller has lived at the Assisted Living Center in Chateau Girardeau since 1991.

"I'm comfortable, which is all I can be these days," she said. "I have everything I need and a little extra."

Keller said she doesn't have any tips on how to live to be 100. She attributes her longevity to good health.

"I've not done anything to make myself particularly healthy," she said. "You don't think about those things. I just went on living."