Berlin woman celebrates 105th birthday

BERLIN, Md. – In 1914, you could buy a loaf of bread for six cents and a house for less than $5,000, but that’s also the year that a very special woman was born, and on Thursday she celebrated a huge birthday.

“I am 105,” Barbara Laws, a resident at the Berlin Nursing Home, said.

Barbara Laws is over a century old, and Thursday was all about her and her lengthy life. The party was complete with cake, presents, and of course stories and memories that Barbara shared with family and friends.

“She is the matriarch of Berlin, as the oldest resident here,” Jo Davis, Events Coordinator at the home, said.

Barbara says she’s lived a happy life, one filled with friends and family and tons of love. But looking back on some of her favorite memories, Barbara says a few stand out.

“My favorite memories…. Travel I guess, around the country, around the world,” Barbara said.

Now, at 105-years-old, if you ask Barbara how you can make it to that age, she’ll tell you one thing.

“Don’t,” she said, laughing.

But if you’re determined to make it past a century, Barbara says she can think of one thing that may help the time pass a little faster.

“I should say whiskey, but I won’t,” she said.

As for this 105-year-old’s plans, she says there’s one thing she wants to do after all the celebrating:

“Sleep,” she said.