Wesport woman turns 108

Westport, Conn. (WTNH) - One Connecticut woman had a lot to celebrate Monday, and it had nothing to do with the Labor Day holiday.

Loretta Margaret Olsen turned 108 years old.

"If I could, I would get up and dance. You would? Go ahead!"

Even at age 108, Loretta Margaret Olsen has ambitious ideas about how to celebrate her birthday.

"If I were younger, I would love to be able to go out maybe dance," Olsen said. "Dance. I love dancing."

Born in 1902 in College Point, New York, this matriarch of five generations moved to Connecticut when she was 17.

Fairfield County has been home ever since, and even after her husband passed away, Loretta lived on her own into her nineties.

It's an independent spirit that has kept her going.

"I'd always walk downtown to shop," Olsen said. "Only I couldn't carry too many bundles. But that's what I enjoyed, going around, meeting people. Oh I've had an enjoyable life."

Loretta insists she has no secret. No special diet or routine to credit with her longevity. But her daughther Muriel Durner, with whom she now lives in Westport, says her mother has always been calm and takes both the good and the bad in stride. And still likes to go out to eat.

What does she really enjoy? Did she say she likes to eat?

"She does," Durner said. "She has a good appetite. She loves to drink Bailey's, that's what's her favorite. She has a little magnifying glass and she looks at the paper in the morning."

I asked Loretta if she's surprised she's lived to 108. Without missing a beat, she said she was surprised she can still get out of bed in the morning.

But given her disposition ...

"I love life."

We'll be back at her house this time next year.