GIBSONIA - Her Christian name is derived from the Latin word for life, and Viva Hirsch has lived up to it, hale and hearty, for more than a century.

Other than good genes, she claims to have "no secret" for her longevity of body, mind and spirit. "I just live day to day like everyone else," said Hirsch who looks and acts at least 30 years younger than the numbers say.

She celebrated her 104th birthday on Dec. 30. She dons her eyeglasses to watch television, hears just fine and has only recently taken to leaning lightly on a walker.

Hirsch counts television as one of the "marvelous" inventions of her time, right up there with airplanes. The Wright brothers took to the air for the first time a few weeks before her third birthday. "That (airplanes) get off the ground surprises me, and I've flown a lot. To think I'd get to all those places I'd never thought I'd get to" in Europe and throughout the United States, she said.

In her opinion, "The way we do everything, live and eat, has changed drastically" since her birth, and yet many things have stayed the same, too. Church activities and visiting with friends top her list of favorite things. "I get lots of visitors. Someone is always coming by. I don't have time to get lonesome."

Hirsch still does much of her own housework at her independent living apartment at Washington Place on the St. Barnabas campus. Once a month, she has a housekeeper come in for the bigger jobs, but like many homemakers, Hirsch helps the helper.

On Dec. 30, Hirsch celebrated her birthday with a party, bringing grandchildren and great-grandchildren together for fun and food.