Fern Heath was born on December 31, 1924 in Crescent, Oklahoma, and she has been a resident of the Beehive State since 1978. She’s currently preparing for her 100th birthday celebration, which she says will be happening at the Embry Chapel African Methodist Episcopal Church on 30th Street later this month.

“I didn’t think I’d make it,” she quipped with a laugh during an interview with the Standard-Examiner on Friday.

She’s not entirely sure how she has managed to live such a long, relatively healthy life, either. However, she thinks it may have something to do with her penchant for keeping busy and helping others however she could.

“Work hard from an early age. Treat everybody nice and kind. Be kind to everyone, especially elderly people and youth,” Heath said when asked for the secret to her longevity.

It’s a philosophy that has been with her since her earliest days in rural Oklahoma. As the oldest of five kids, Heath found herself taking on a significant role in her family household at just 9 years old when her mother died and her father had a farm to run.

“I had to learn how to cook at an early age,” she said. “I learned that and then, later on, we gardened. I learned how to garden and chop cotton and do all the farm.”

After finishing school, she made her way to the city, where she took on housekeeping roles for several families. It was through this work that, as an early twentysomething, she met her first husband, Antone.

“There was a man delivering eggs next door to where I worked. The lady I worked for wasn’t buying eggs, but this man that was delivering the eggs had a sister working right there beside me,” Heath said. “He saw me when he delivered eggs to the family and he told his sister he wanted to meet me. She set up a meeting time and I met him and, later on, we fell in love and we got married.”

Heath went on to have four children with her first husband; three boys and a daughter. After her husband passed away in 1966 and her children had grown, she moved to Ogden where she married her second husband, Noble, who was from her old neighborhood in Oklahoma.

Just as she had done before making the westward move, she wasted little time in becoming actively engaged in her new community. Having previously served as a volunteer with the Red Cross in Oklahoma, she went on to work with the local Democratic Party and NAACP branches. She also served on Ogden’s Community Action, Urban Forestry, Rescue Mission and Marshall White Community Center boards as well as the Senior Fair and Nutrition boards of Weber County.

“I always said I didn’t have sense enough to say no,” Heath said.

Her work and personal time with the Marshall White Center was of particular importance, though.

“We fought to keep it going. We needed a center in that neighborhood. It was built for people in that neighborhood especially,” Heath said. “I just believed in checking in on the elderly and seeing about them. … I helped serve the lunch for a long time and they named a room after me. I got there and made the coffee and then served the lunch.”

She did water aerobics there, too, well into her 80s.

Looking back, she said Ogden became home for her. Even after her second husband died in 1994 and her boys in Oklahoma implored her to move back, she remained. And she’s thankful for the time she has spent here and the work she has been able to do.

“It’s been enjoyable. If you just do something for your community and stay busy, you’ll be happy,” she said.