Gertrude Johannessen's son, Tom, attributes his 103-year-old mother's youthful looks to her decades spent working at Schaefer Greenhouses in Montgomery, which her father founded when she was a child.

OSWEGO, Ill. — Perchance the makers of Ponds cold cream read this column, I’d like to offer a suggestion: Get a production crew out to Bickford of Oswego ASAP and shoot a commercial around one of the residents at this assisted living facility.

That’s because Gertrude Johannessen, a long-time user of your vintage lotion turned 103 last week, but with her nearly flawless complexion, she could easily pass for someone at least a generation younger.

Now, I don’t know if credit for Gertrude’s incredibly wrinkle-resistant skin goes to the hundreds — thousands? — of jars of Ponds she’s used throughout her long life. Or that she’s got darn good DNA working in her favor. After all, brother Eric died when he was 100 and her brother Eddie lived to be 96.

“Mom’s incredible looks,” suggested youngest son Tom Johannessen, could also be attributed to the fact she hung out in greenhouses for most of her life, taking advantage of the healthy oxygen plants give off.

Gertrude’s father Frank Schaefer founded Schaefer Greenhouses in 1926, and Gert, the middle child in his brood of eight, worked in this family-owned and operated business from the time she was a kid to well into her 80s.

Both Tom and his mom aren’t quite sure of when it was she first tried to retire, somewhere around age 78, they both agree.

“But then I’d get a phone call because they needed someone to come in and help,” Gert added with a smile. “So I guess I really didn’t stop working until about 84.”

OK, so then maybe the secret to her age-defying looks and longevity is plain old hard work?

Gertrude nods in agreement. But she also puts “faith and family” up there, as well.

“I’ve been blessed,” Gertrude, who celebrated a quiet birthday, told me during our visit in her small but cozy room at Bickford, where she moved four years ago after deciding — reluctantly — she could no longer live alone in her North Aurora home.

“It was hard, very hard,” she said of having to give up that independence she’d closely guarded for nearly a century.

Gertrude already had stopped driving a few years earlier because of failing eyesight. But on that one unforgettable day, at age 98, she was trying to get a roasting pan from the oven to the counter and almost dropped it. “That’s when I decided, I can’t do this anymore.”

Gert and her husband never made it to their 50th anniversary. Art, a smoker, died from emphysema at age 70 and she’s been on her own since then.

But Gertrude is grateful for her family — her four children, 10 grandchildren, 20 great-grandchildren and 11 great-greats — many of whom try to visit as often as possible.

“Things change. Everything is more difficult now,” she said. “But I have to be content with my life. And I am.

“I was able to do what I wanted for so long, so how can I complain?”