MIDDLETON (WKOW) – If you ask Lillian Flesch how she feels to be 100, she’ll tell you: “Same as ever.”

Dozens of her friends and family filled Jefferson Retirement Living in Middleton Sunday to celebrate their mother, grandmother and great-grandmother.

And Lillian cut the cake herself!

“She’s an awesome, fun, down to earth lady,” said her granddaughter, Crystal Schlenker. “Just the sweetest, sweetest lady.”

Also at the party was Lillian’s wedding dress from 1946, when she married her late husband Clarence at her home in a blizzard.

“She knew him before the war,” Schlenker said. “They wrote letters back and forth.”

Lillian’s impact went well beyond the room. She was a teacher for many years and her family says everyone in Mineral Point was taught by Lillian.

“One lady was saying that she was an inspiration to her, (and) now she’s a teacher,” Schlenker said.

But in 100 years, she said her favorite memory was simple.

“I think Christmas morning,” Lillian said.

Schlenker explained that Christmas Eve the whole family would go to her grandmother’s house and open presents.

“And then in the morning, she made that breakfast casserole, and that was pretty special,” Schlenker said.

Lillian’s family said the key to her old age was that she didn’t smoke, didn’t drink and didn’t do anything she wasn’t supposed to do. They wanted Sunday’s celebration to be special, and it certainly was.