Speechless for first time in 100 years

Marisa O’Neil

Costa Mesa resident Helen Jones has seen plenty of excitement in her

long life, but her 100th birthday party Saturday night just about

took the cake.

Things heated up from the get-go. Costa Mesa Fire Chief Jim Ellis

issued a special permit for her party -- a fire permit for 100

burning candles on her birthday cake. A team of firefighters

delivered the license, read a congratulatory letter from the chief

and gave Jones an honorary sticker badge.

“She loves a man in uniform,” Sue Vinci, a friend of Jones,

exclaimed.

Jones was born in Brazil, Indiana, in 1905, a year when the

average lifespan for a woman was 47 years, she said as she sipped a

glass of homemade blackberry wine at her party.

She saw the advent of the automobile, all its incarnations since,

two world wars and the first man on the moon.

“I feel good,” she said Saturday night.

She owes her longevity, she said, to a Manhattan cocktail every

evening at 5 p.m. sharp, a ritual she’s followed since her college

days.

Besides her uniformed guests, dozens of others crowded into the

Mesa North home she shares with her daughter and son-in-law, Sylvia

and Jim Hatton.

“She’s absolutely the most gracious woman I’ve ever met in life,”

Sylvia Hatton said of her mother.

Two of Jones’ nephews flew in,one from North Carolina and a second

from Illinois, to see her celebrate hitting the century mark.

“She’s my favorite aunt,” 83-year-old Rupert Evans said. “I

wouldn’t have missed it.”

Jones’ family includes her three children, seven grandchildren and

six great-grandchildren. Many raised toasts and shared stories about

her long life -- including the time at the age of 10 she took her $10

reward for finding a lost watch and used it to buy a gun from her

neighbor to shoot squirrels.

The attention and kind words she received Saturday left her

momentarily at a loss.

“I’m practically speechless,” Jones said to her guests as they

raised a toast to her.

Her son, Austin Jones, didn’t miss a beat.

“Every 100 years, my mother is speechless,” he said.

* MARISA O’NEIL covers public safety and courts. She may be

reached at (714) 966-4618 or by e-mail at marisa.oneil@latimes.com.