Golda Williams, who turns 100 next week, offers only one simple piece of advice for those who want to live that long: "Keep on living," she chuckles.

It's a play on words, but it's not a joke. "There's nothing that I have done that's made me live like this," she told The Citizen this week, "but I couldn't retire and sit down. I haven't stopped.

"God has been what has kept me living," added the long-time member of the East Point Church of Christ.

Williams will be 100 Feb. 24, and the Fayetteville City Council has proclaimed Golda Williams Day in her honor.

"I'm not a person for a lot of fanfare," she said, "but I do appreciate it."

Dot Brown, who attends the East Point church with Williams, alerted the City Council to the soon-to-be-centenarian's coming birthday. Brown said friends are sponsoring a birthday tea Feb. 27, 2-4 p.m. at the church. More than 400 have been invited, but, "It's open to everyone," she said.

Williams is still very active, Brown said, and has had to give up driving only in the last few years. "She is a very unusual person," she said. "She has always quietly gone about doing everything for everybody."

Born in Tennessee in 1898, Williams came to Georgia in 1941 with her husband, who was a civilian instructor working for the U.S. Army. When her husband died at the age of 58 in 1952, she took on the task of raising their 14-year-old son alone, working for Colonial Stores and living in East Point, Ga. She worked 11 years and then retired... sort of.

"I don't believe in retiring and sitting down," she said. Williams took a job as secretary of the East Point Church of Christ, working there for 18 more years before retiring from that job, but she still didn't sit down.

After her second retirement at the age of 83, she continued to care for her granddaughter and do housework for her son's family in their Gingercake Road home.

The family came to Fayette County in 1976 Wiliams was 78 at the time for its schools. "My son wantd to get out of East Point and find a place where his daughter could go to school in good schools," she said.

Work, Williams said, is good for you. "It works your mind and keeps you active," she said.

During a century of living, Williams said she has been amazed at technological developments, especially in transportation. "There's been such a change from the time I can remember until now," she said, "in the way of travel and things like that."