Remarkably youthful Taunton woman turns 100. What's her secret? Not what you might think

TAUNTON — Alice Perry, on paper, may be turning 100 on April 8, but, in person, you might confuse her for decades younger.

"Recently she told her caregivers at her home that she feels like she is 60 again. We have been so blessed with her good health and sharp mind. She loves a good card game with her grandkids. She beats them most of the time," Perry's granddaughter Michelle Perry said.

Alice Perry has an upright rolling walker, but it's more of a precaution than a necessity. She moves quite well on her feet without it.

She also thinks on her feet, responding to questions right away, needing little time to formulate an answer.

“I just can’t believe it. I honestly never thought I would live this long,” said Perry, speaking from her apartment at The Residence at Great Woods in Norton, which she only just moved into last year, after living independently in Taunton all her life.

What's her secret?

What’s her secret to reaching a century in age?

Perry said she’s hardly ever been someone concerned with her health or her diet.

“I just take it one day at a time,” she said.

She never exercised and is known to occasionally like her junk food.

“I don’t worry about what I eat,” she said, professing her love for peppermint patties and the occasional shaved steak and cheese sub.

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She also said longevity isn’t necessarily a familial trait. The daughter of Portuguese immigrants, Louis and Angelina Ferris, she said her parents only lived to be 54 and 65, respectively. As one of 12 siblings, Alice remains the last after her sister Celia died in 2016. Regardless, she said most of her siblings died in their 60s and 70s, with a couple reaching their late 80s.

She was driving herself until age 94.

“I didn’t want to renew it. Just gave up and sold my car," she said.

Perry has her health concerns, like any senior, but nothing noticeable or debilitating.

What made her move to Great Woods was a health scare last year. She explained that after doing some traveling to visit one of her two sons in Florida, she returned to Massachusetts and was staying with family. She said she was feeling very lethargic. Her family took her to the hospital, where she was diagnosed with fluid in her lungs.

After rehabbing from this condition, it was decided she should be in a senior living facility.

“She needed more personal care. The care is very good here. She also gets more stimulation with her schedule.  She’s thriving here,” said Brian Perry, Alice’s grandson.

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A lifetime of being a nurturer

Perry said a constant throughout her life has been taking care of loved ones.

She said that at age 14 she dropped out of school, at the request of her father, so that she could help her mother take care of all her siblings.

“The principal was really upset. I was a good student,” Perry said.

She said she was the one who drove her siblings to the hospital, sometimes even to Boston, when her siblings got sick.

She nurtured her father when he became disabled. Her father worked at the New Jersey Rubber Company in Taunton.  She would eventually also work there for a time, as an adult.

Her husband, Edward J. Perry, worked with L&O Realty in Taunton. When he got injured in an industrial accident in 1970, which left him partially paralyzed on one side, she retired from the workforce to take care of him for the next 30 years. He died in 2000 after 53 years of marriage.

“It was a tough road for him,” Alice said.

Her grandson believes her longevity is her reward for all her good will.

“She took care of everyone. She’s been a nurturer all her life,” said Brian.

Alice agrees the reason could be divine intervention.

“God wanted me to take care of family,” she said, adding she feels, "God still has me here for a reason."

Extra golden years

Perry said she loves living at Residences at Great Woods in Norton.

“She has her own fan club here,” among the staff, said Amber Murray, engagement director for Great Woods.

Perry stays active throughout the week with activities, including bingo, happy hour and trivia games with other residents.

Though the Residence provides all her transportation means for medical appointments, shopping and recreational, she’s currently lobbying for a bus trip to a casino.

“I love gambling,” she said, adding that her and some of her sisters took annual trips to Vegas for years.

She’s been spending a lot of time focused on her love for painting. She’s gotten so prolific and garnered enough admiration that some of her works can be found hung on the walls of the Residence’s art gallery.

More than anything, she said, she’s grateful for the time she spends with all her family.

“Now, I have kids and grandkids to watch. The love of family, that is what stimulates me,” she said.

This article originally appeared on The Taunton Daily Gazette: Remarkably youthful Taunton woman Alice Perry turns 100. Her secret?