One o'clock rolled around—the time they were supposed to meet—but Kristaly said she wasn't ready yet. Eagleston didn't think much of it at the time, figuring there must have been something delaying her. Little did she know that on the other side of the wall, her friends were organizing a surprise birthday party for her.

On April 15, Eagleston and friends celebrated her 101st birthday with wine and strawberry angel cake, two of her favorites.

"It's not a nice day to have a birthday because it's the same day as tax day," Eagleston jokes.

But her friends think otherwise. Fran Milmoe, who has known the birthday girl for five years, drove 30 miles to wish her friend well—although she doesn't seem to need it much. An independent person, Eagleston lives alone, takes frequent walks through the Village without any walking aides, eats just about anything she wants whether it's hard or soft, has excellent hearing and wears glasses only when reading.

"I'm pretty healthy," she says. "At least I hope I am."

Milmoe describes Eagleston as someone from a classic movie.

"She's the epitome of a gracious Southern lady," Milmoe says. "She's very soft-spoken and speaks slowly. She's like a Southern belle, like someone in Gone With the Wind."

She may be soft-spoken, but Eagleston loved the fast life—on the racetrack, that is. Born and raised in Kentucky, Eagleston enjoyed going to the Kentucky Derby with her sister. She never bet, although her sister did.

"I just went because the horses were so pretty," she says. "I never had an interest in gambling."

But she had an interest in people and traveling. After graduating from the University of Kentucky with a degree in psychology, she became an elementary school teacher for several years, working with fourth- and fifth-graders. After she married, she moved from one state to another. Connecticut, New Jersey and Florida were some of the places she lived before settling in Saratoga in the 1970s.

Now the Saratogan spends her days having lunches with friends, shopping and walking in the Village.

Susan Ivey-Herman says she is glad to have someone like Eagleston in her life.

"She's the fairest flower in our garden," she says. "She's my inspiration. She goes to all of the homeowners association meetings and does laps around the complex. She can outdo me."

So what's Eagleston's secret to a long life? Beats her. She doesn't even know.

"I guess I'm just lucky," she says.