Around Jessie Schell's 90th birthday, her grandson Joe asked if she could go anywhere she wanted in the world, where would she go?
She said Las Vegas.
"So we took her to Vegas for her 90th birthday," Joe said with a smile.
"And she loved it," added Jessie's granddaughter Julie Hix.
That vigor for life is why her grandchildren call her the "Energizer Bunny" and why Schell will celebrate her 103rd birthday Saturday. This social butterfly started the celebration a few days early with a happy hour activity late Thursday afternoon where she lives at Primrose Retirement Community of Jefferson City.
"We generally have a monthly birthday party but because Jessie is 103, her family asked if they could bring up some snacks and drinks," said Dawn Collins, life enrichment coordinator at Primrose, adding Schell's son John and his wife, Juda, own Vista Grande Mexican Restaurant in Osage Beach. "He brought margaritas, chips and salsa because Jessie says margaritas are what kept her alive for these 103 years."
Schell was born in Wellsville and has lived in the Jefferson City area since graduating high school and attending college for one year. Her husband, Lee, who passed away in 1982, managed Schell Construction for several years. They had three children - John, Tom and Christie - and now there are seven grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren, with another on the way.
"She always says family is important," Julie noted when asked good what advice her grandmother has shared with her. "I think keeping her mind active is inspiring to me. She is always playing cards or doing something to stay busy."
Schell has maintained her independent, social spirit. John said she was driving up until she was 99 and lived at her home up until about three and a half years ago when she came to Primrose.
"She is so active and probably the most active resident I have - and she is the oldest resident I have," Collins said. "She wants to participate in everything."
Learning how to play bridge as a child, Jessie loves playing all kinds of games, including hand and foot, bingo at St. Martins and penny slots at the casino, her favorite.
"She has learned five different card games since she has lived here," John said.
Schell's social life also includes going to concerts and theatrical productions in town with fellow Primrose residents, family and friends, as well as simply visiting with loved ones.
"You almost have to get an appointment to see her," Joe said with a laugh. "She knows everybody and is so social to this day, and I think I get that from her and use that in the restaurant business. I try to talk to everybody."
While a guest serenaded Schell with Roy Orbison's "Pretty Woman," the nearly 103-year-old social butterfly listened intently with a smile. After the song closed, she was on her feet greeting her many guests around the room.
"We have a sense of family here and we call it our Primrose family. Being able to mix Jessie's family with our residents, it is just an amazing interaction," Collins said. "We just love her."
Her vibrant, friendly nature and determination to keep busy is what her family thinks keeps her active mind, body and spirit.
"Her memory is amazing," Christie Hix said. "She is so active, and I'm so thankful she gets to do all she does here."
Those who seek guidance on living a long life from Jessie could see how Vista Grande's margaritas, her love of games or her sociable nature keep her a young 103. But Jessie can only offer them one piece of advice.
"Everybody is asking me, but I don't have any advice really other than just go on living like always," she said. "That's what I did."