Edna Parker started her 103rd birthday on Wednesday with a visit to the salon where she got her hair and makeup done. Then she greeted guests at her part at Aegis Living in Redmond.
She wore a pink floral dress, a tiara and a gold sparkly sash that read Birthday Girl. Everyone at her party wore pink, her favorite color, and said she looked like Queen Elizabeth II.
"I can't believe I've lived that long," Parker told her daughter Judy Saunders, who joined her for lunch at the living facility.
"I know, I know. I can't believe it either," Saunders replied.
"That's a lot of years," Parker said.
"It's a lot of years," Saunders agreed.
Saunders said she's grateful for the amount of time she's been able to spend with her mother.
"I come to visit her almost everyday. And I think that's the gift I've been given," Saunders said.
Parker grew up an only child in South Dakota. She slept in the kitchen next to the stove. Saunders said Parker always tells a story about a pet chicken that once laid an egg on her bed.
She'd later work in both education and hospital administration, after teaching for many years. Parker moved to the Puget Sound region more than 80 years ago with her late husband William.
At Parker's party on Wednesday, there was a photo booth with a floral backdrop, and staff and residents sang Happy Birthday to Parker.
Nancy Larson sat across the table from Parker at lunch. They're friends. Larson says she and Parker often play balloon volleyball in Larson's room and haven't broken anything yet.
Parker wins a lot.
"You know when they play basketball they twirl the ball?" Larson said. "There's a stripe down the basketball and the players twirl the ball until they get that stripe just where they want it. (Parker) knows that, so she twirls those balloons. And then she let's go."
Another friend at the celebration, Miyo Ike, recently celebrated her 100th birthday.
"Oh, isn't that horrible? One-Oh-Oh," Ike said.
She said she had one piece of advice for people trying to live a long, happy life.
"Just enjoy everyday and don't listen to people who say don't eat that," Ike said. "Just go ahead and eat anything you want."
On non-party days, you can often find Parker sitting by the front door of the living facility. She loves talking with people. She also loves dogs. So it was fitting that she ended her birthday party with a smile surrounded by therapy dogs as people took photos of her.
