NIAGARA FALLS, N.Y. — What's the secret to a long life? A woman in the Town of Niagara thinks she knows the answer.
On Martha Mathison's 101st birthday, she said the key is to "just live laugh, and love, that's my secret. Live laugh and love that's it."
But if you ask her son, he might tell you otherwise. He would say, "She has reached 101 because she ate collard greens cooked in bacon grease every day for the majority of her life!!"
Mathison was born in Alabama in 1923. She moved to Western New York in 1955.
She came to WNY with two things.
"The television and the sewing machine. We sold everything we owned except the TV and the sewing machine. We could get both of those in the car. Here we came and here we are - machine and all."
We asked her about some of her favorite things in Western New York.
"I think the best thing is all the friends I have. That's the best part. Just a great place to live. I enjoy living here and I enjoy the winters."
Mathison worked as a seamstress. She found a love for quilting over the years. She said, "It's always been my passion to make a quilt. I kept working at it until I ran out. " She said she loves to see how happy it makes people when the finished product is all done. She explained, "how pretty it looks and how much people enjoy it. That's the biggest thing."
As you can imagine, over her 101 years of life she's made countless memories and impacted others throughout her life.
Her friends and family made sure to show her on her 101st birthday how much she meant to them. They dropped off flowers, birthday cards, and presents.
On Wednesday, Mathison will have another party to celebrate with friends and family. On top of her sons and daughter, she has seven grandchildren, five great-grandchildren, and one great-great-grandson.