An elderly American lady who had just reached a significant milestone was asked by a reporter: "What's the best thing about being 100 years old?"

"No peer pressure," came the quick reply.

Certainly Margaret Burrows can relate. She has outlived all her childhood friends, husband Melvin, siblings... even nine of her 12 children (four died at a young age)!

When she celebrated her 104th birthday last Sunday, over 100 family members went down to the Continuing Care Unit (formerly Extended Care Unit) at the Old Hospital to celebrate the occasion with her. Finance Minister Eugene Cox and his wife also attended. Granddaughter Johnette Smith, who has put together the family tree, says there are now 37 grandchildren, 64 great-grandchildren and 53 great-great-grandchildren.

Mrs. Burrows is understood to be the oldest Bermudian, though attempts to confirm that were unsuccessful this week when the Registrar General's Department was contacted.

To put 104 in context, she was born in 1899 and with her good long term memory can remember a Bermuda without telephones, trains and cars, as well as the other luxuries we enjoy today. She has lived through two World Wars and killer flu epidemics and is older than Cup Match which reached 100 last year.

"Some of the grandchildren hadn't seen her since her last birthday and I said 'you guys need to spend more time with her, because not too many people get to have a grandmother around for so long, and especially at that age'," said granddaughter Johnette Smith, whose mother, Elizabeth Gomes, is one of Mrs. Burrows' three surviving children. The others are Lorretta Burrows and Maurice Burrows.

Some of Mrs. Burrows' grandchildren are grandparents themselves which further highlights the generational depth of the family. "One of her great-grandchildren has a child, who was four years old, and that was the first time he had seen his great-great-grandmother," said Mrs. Smith.

"She wouldn't know the great-great-grandchildren. My son would be a great-grand and she knew him on Sunday. She can take you way back, her long term memory is excellent. She knows a lot of the grandchildren and great-grands, those in their 20s, but it seems the ones under 20 she doesn't tend to know them too well."

Bermuda's seniors are a national treasure and even more so for those nearing the 100 mark. Mrs. Burrows is in remarkably good physical condition considering her age and can read without reading glasses. "Her faculties are fairly good for her age," said her daughter, Elizabeth Gomes.

"On Sunday when we were taking her in the taxi (to church) she was reading everything inside the taxi and all the signs. She loves to read, hardly wears glasses."

Added her granddaughter: "And when we got into church in Somerset (St. James) they were reading scriptures from the Bible and she was reading right along with them.

"That writing in the books is so tiny, but she knows exactly what she is reading."

Mrs. Burrows was born on Angle Street, one of children 13, but she grew up on Mount Hill, Pembroke. Once, on a drive to her old neighbourhood a few years ago, she insisted it wasn't Mount Hill, such were the changes.

"Don't tell me this is Mount Hill, this is not Mount Hill," her daughter Elizabeth remembers her saying. "I've been 'up the country' for almost 50 years and when I went up to Mount Hill I didn't recognise it."

Mrs. Burrows worked for over 40 years for Gerald Harnett, bringing up his two daughters Helene and Ann, whom she still remembers with affection.

"Ann lives in Connecticut and she and her husband John come down every year," said Mrs. Gomes. "They have been very good to her. She calls Ann her 'white' daughter."

"She's not had an easy road in life, bringing up 12 children and then had to look after her mother, my father and then one of her granddaughters... all three of them sick at the same time.

"All her friends have passed, except Olive Hart, her sister-in-law. They are still close. She told her one time 'Olive, I've told you before, use Oil of Olay because your face is too wrinkly'."

She credits the product for keeping her looking young. Good eating has kept her healthy and her daughter can only remember her being in the hospital three times.

"She ate healthy and took all her vegetables," recalled Mrs. Gomes. "She was a beautiful cook. She made the best lobster Thermidor, I'm telling you."

She also loves to dress up and dance and still has a great sense of humour.

"Calypso music is her favourite," said Mrs. Gomes.

And she isn't afraid to speak her mind.

"She makes them laugh all the time," said her daughter, referring to the other residents at the Continuing Care Unit.

"And she always wins at Bingo."

"The nurses here love her to death," said her only surviving son, Maurice.

She also had the Premier in stitches last year when they met at the Premier's annual Seniors Tea Party at Botanical Gardens. According to Maurice, who took her there, the Premier told her she would like to live as long as her, to which she was told "you've got a long way to go".

Another granddaughter, Belinda Gibbons, called her a 'honey and a half', and when you spend time with Margaret Burrows you quickly find out she is all that and much more.

"She used to tell me worry kills, so don't worry," said Ms. Gibbons.

"I took that to heart. I said to her 'what keeps you going, nana?' and she said 'I do not worry and when I do start to worry I take it and toss it over my shoulder!'.

"She said to deal with a problem in your own way and in your own time and don't try to deal with it right away. I dealt with a problem I had in that way and it worked for me."

Ms Gibbons spent a lot of time with her grandmother because her mother, Phyllis Evans, looked after her mother for a number of years as she got up in age.

"We all took turns caring for her, and she wasn't a problem," said Ms Gibbons, one of eight siblings.

"She has such a wonderful spirit. I used to always go in her bedroom and sit down with her and one day she told me 'I'm not feeling too sharp today, I think I'm getting tired'.

"I said to her, 'Nana, the Good Lord doesn't want you yet, he has a reason for you to stay here'. She said to me: 'You think so?'. I said 'yes, my girl' and she said 'alright then I'll stay around a little longer'."

No doubt the love and support of the family keeps Mrs. Burrows going.

"On Sunday the only ones she wanted to touch her were the great-grands," Ms. Gibbons revealed.

"She told my sister's girl and grandson 'you all can touch me, but I don't want the grownups to touch me'."

Mrs. Gibbons' older sister, Karen Smith, said her grandmother is just an amazing woman.

"I hope I get to live that long," said the granddaughter. "For her to live this old I think is a blessing and I'm very proud of her and thank the Lord she lived to see this age.

"She always told me not to worry, because worry will kill you faster than anything. 'Don't worry' is her favourite saying."

Said another sister, Sharon Evans: Words cannot describe her right now, she's just a loving person."