More than 100 people gathered at the Seventh-Day Adventist Church in Penn Valley recently to celebrate the 100th birthday of local resident Esther Violet Nelson Sokolik.

Mrs. Sokolik who was born Feb. 2, 1910, in Duluth, Minn.; her family, the Nelsons, had immigrated from Sweden in 1839. At the time, William H. Taft was president, and the tragedies of World War I and what would follow were part of an unknown future.

On Nov. 6, 1948, when she was 38, she married Serge Sokolik in San Francisco. They moved to Fort Ord in Monterey, where Serge worked as a translator for the U.S. Army.

For the past seven years, Esther and Serge have lived an active, faith-filled and

independent life in Penn Valley.

She walks to church each Sabbath morning and is usually among the first ones there.

She attributes her good health and longevity to her trust in God, a vegetarian diet, gardening and an active life of sharing her faith in the return of Jesus with everyone.

The couple's three children — Laida, Steve and Mary Ellen — joined in the birthday honors.

Chuck Starnes is a Nevada County resident.