HOLLYWOOD, Fla. – A South Florida woman celebrated her 106th birthday on Thursday.
Dorrie Abernoyek was serenaded with happy birthday at Memorial Regional Hospital, where she has volunteered for 39 years.
"I feel like Memorial is like a second home to me," she said. "I really feel at home when I come here."
Abernoyek began volunteering there after her first husband died.
"It's a part of me that I want to give back what I receive and I feel that the community gave a lot to me and I want to return it," said Abernoyek.
Abernoyek, a mother of two, grandmother of three, and great-grandmother of three more, has been walking her entire life. She even remembers walking to kindergarten in England over a century ago.
"I walked about six miles every day from 5-years-old and I continued walking," she said.
Abernoyek credited exercise and eating right to her long life, but admitted to having one small vice.
I eat cookies every single day," she said with a laugh.
"She inspires us. She's a very wise woman, she's a very giving woman, and she has the most beautiful smile and I think that smile is what identifies her and everybody responds to her," said Audrey Steinhauer, Abernoyek's daughter.