MARION — Louise Sylvia will have no fewer than five birthday parties, and a birthday dinner this year. But with good reason: she was born in 1920, and is turning 100. 

Born in New Bedford, but raised in Fairhaven, Sylvia said she had a very good childhood. She remembers running after the ice wagon and getting kicked off of it with some of her six brothers and eight sisters. 

Her father had a farm, raised pigs and chickens and grew vegetables.

“We were poor, but we never knew it. We always had something to eat,” Sylvia said, recalling her mother’s kale soup. 

In the days before radios were common in households, the siblings entertained themselves with baseball games (to this day she loves the Red Sox). They would take trips to downtown Fairhaven to pick up a sandwich for a nickel, or buy penny candy. 

Sylvia moved to Marion in the 1940s, when she married her husband. She has two sons and a daughter, but other than giving birth, has never had surgery. 

She has lived in Marconi Village since its founding, 25 years ago, and has never lived outside of Massachusetts. However, she has had the chance to travel. One of her sons lives in Las Vegas, and she took trips there every winter for 38 years. Though she stopped flying some years ago, she also fondly recounts going down to visit her sister in Tampa Florida for Marti Gras. 

She still does all of her own cooking, shopping and housework, though she had to give up her car at age 96, when it fell into disrepair. She loves to make soups, and baked dishes. 

Sylvia said that some of the most incredible things she has seen are the moon landing and the invention of television. But reading might be her favorite hobby, and she loves Danielle Steele and mysteries. 

The centenarian doesn’t have a cell phone because she doesn’t like the radiation. But she does have an iPad and videochats with her grandchildren about once a week. 

When pressed for her secret to aging so well, Sylvia said she didn’t have one. 

“I never thought I would see 100,” Sylvia said. “I have been fortunate to have my health.”