901 Now: 100-year-old woman still thriving in the Bluff City

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (WMC) - A Whitehaven woman celebrated her 100th birthday this month.

At 100 years old, Frances Walker has seen and done it all.

“I’ve been on a number of cruises,” Walker said. “I’ve been to Canada. I learned to swim in the Atlantic Ocean.”

These days she’s still active, doing whatever she wants to do.

“I get up later, I get up and get myself together and whatever I have laid out to do that day, I leisurely do it,” Walker said.

Her secret to staying on the go?

“Keep yourself up, exercise and watch your weight,” Walker said. “Just try to find an interesting thing in life. Don’t get bogged down in one thing, do things.”

Do things but do it in style, she said.

“Whenever I go somewhere, I’ve got a heel on. I got my first pair of heels when I was 16 years old, and I’ve been wearing them ever since.”

Notorious for her shoe collection, she said she loves her heels and she’s stepping in year 100 with the same attitude.

“Life itself has been good,” Walker said. “I don’t have very many dreary days. I think about all the good times I’ve had and the places I’ve been to. It’s nothing. It’s nothing for me to be in the store and hear someone holla across, Hey Granny!”

Walker spent many years working for the Board of Education. In 2011, she finally retired at the age of 84.

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