Ain't misbehaving

COEUR d'ALENE - There's a secret to a long life, and Lee Boyer knows it.

But guess what? She says it's really no secret.

"Oh Lord, I don't know. Just behaving," the centenarian said of whether she does anything special for good health. "I just do whatever I want to. I don't do a lot of drinking or smoking."

She does, however, dance and sing and laugh a lot, too.

Boyer, who turned 100 Thursday, celebrated her birthday at Kootenai Health's senior care program at the McGrane Center.

That she reached the century mark was no surprise to Irene Gage, coordinator of senior care program who has known Boyer about a year and described her as "feisty."

Bingo, walking, hearing a good joke and coffee and conversation are among her favorite activities.

"She loves to dance," Gage said.

Sure enough, Boyer was on the move Thursday, sitting near the piano and singing along, or joining her friends in the dance circle. Still spry and spirited, the centenarian chuckled over all the attention sent her way.

She took a seat, holding her small stuffed dog, so folks could sing happy birthday.

"I'm fine," she said when asked how she was enjoying her birthday.

Boyer was born July 26, 1912, in Kamiah, and was one of 12 children. She married, raised two children and worked as a sales clerk and switchboard operator.

Her father, she said, was strict.

"But he wasn't mean to you or anything," she said.

The family easily filled a large house.

"Everybody was good at home. There was no fighting or nothing like that. He had us trained," Boyer said.

She is the last of her siblings and today lives in Coeur d'Alene with her daughter, Jacquie, and son-in-law, Ken Mayo.

She hopes to visit the family homestead in Kamiah.

"I haven't yet, but I'm going to," Boyer said. "I might move down there."

Boyer boasts she has good health - she takes just one medication for her thyroid - and can still do housework and still cook, too.

"Everybody thinks I'm crazy," she said, laughing.

Like a fox.