What's the secret to a long, happy life? Don't smoke, don't drink and don't worry. That's the advice Christine Kriedt gave as she turned 101 on May 21, although the resident of Paramount Senior Living in Maytown admits she has done all three things in moderation. Christine added that she doesn't feel like she's more than 100 years old, noting that she gets tired, but she got tired when she was 60.

Christine celebrated her birthday with her son, David, who also lives at Paramount, and her daughter, Wendy, and son-in-law, Gary.

Born in England, Christine was 17 on Sept. 3, 1939, when Britain entered World War II. She had recently graduated from an all-girls boarding school and got a job doing secret work for the Foreign Office. Soon, she and her co-workers were evacuated to Bletchley Park, a mansion with beautiful grounds including a pond and walking paths, away from the bombing in London. Although she was forbidden to tell her family or friends what she did for work, she collaborated with professors from Cambridge and Oxford universities. She was a codebreaker, and the work she did was the subject of the fictional book "The Rose Code." Although Christine said the work was frightening at times, she enjoyed the people she worked with.

During the war, she met Philip Kriedt and came to the United States with him in 1947, against her parents' wishes. The couple married in Minneapolis and moved to New Jersey. They were married for 33 years before he died in 1980. In addition to her two children, Christine has two adopted grandchildren.

A lifelong knitter, Christine said she has donated "an awful lot of things to give to the needy, mostly hats and scarves." She still loves to knit and read and also enjoys completing word-find puzzles. She makes greeting cards during a bi-monthly card-making activity led by a local resident, and she joked that she also likes to rest, adding that she feels entitled to that due to her age.

On the day she was interviewed, Christine got up at 5 a.m. to watch the King of England's coronation. She was particularly interested in seeing the inside of Westminster Abbey, where she has visited, and where she has heard there is mention of Bletchley Park. She recalled that Winston Churchill, prime minister of England, was pleased with Bletchley Park and came to visit the site during the war, noting, "He came to see us, and I got close enough to have eye contact with him, which was exciting."