Celebrating 100 years of health

Newport Beach resident Alyce Hall reaches landmark age surrounded by her many friends.Alyce Hall has never taken vitamins. She rarely visits the doctor. And she adds what most would call excessive amounts of salt to just about everything she eats.

Nonetheless, the Newport Beach resident is turning 100 on Jan. 28.

Her friends -- who joined her in celebrating early at a party on Sunday -- attribute her longevity to her phenomenal attitude toward life.

“Her attitude is, ‘Everything is great. Everything is fabulous.’ I have never heard her say anything wasn’t perfect,” said Newport Beach resident Joan Short, a longtime friend. “She just has a marvelous attitude.”

Short and Beverley Trask, another close friend, organized the celebration for Hall. They chose to host the party at the Santa Ana Country Club because Hall was a member for 69 years, joining in 1931.

“We just wanted all her friends to come and wish her a happy 100th,” Short said. Hall will be celebrating her birthday again next weekend -- one party with all of her bridge-playing friends and another with her relatives.

“She’s a pretty special lady,” Trask said. “She’s done an awful lot in her lifetime.”

Hall has had many fabulous birthday celebrations. She spent her 97th on a boat cruising the Antarctic.

“She was there with all the penguins for 14 days,” Short said, adding that the ship’s captain thought it was magnificent -- a 97-year-old woman suiting up three times a day for 14 days to crawl into a Zodiac and cruise around the glaciers.

“He just said it was one of the highlights of his whole life.”

Hall said every birthday has been wonderful, but she was especially pleased with Sunday’s turnout.

“Nobody can beat this,” she said, looking around the room full of all her closest friends. “With all these wonderful friends -- I know all of them.”

20060123itivelncDOUGLAS ZIMMERMAN / DAILY PILOT(LA)Alyce Hall celebrates her centennial with friends Deane Helperin, left, and Joan Short.