FREEPORT – The prospect of growing old is a reality we all grudgingly confront, but at the age of 107, Doris “Geta” Farrar isn’t too concerned with numbers, even if she could be the oldest person in Maine.

“People say, ‘Well, you’re 107, Geta,’” Farrar said last week at her room at the Hawthorne House in Freeport. “What’s the big deal?”

Farrar – Geta is a childhood nickname – celebrated her birthday on June 6, surrounded by friends, family and Hawthorne House staff, who all turned out to honor a woman who, by most accounts and by virtue of longevity, has seen it all.

At 107, Farrar is in select company. While not able to confirm Farrar as the oldest Maine resident, an official at the office of Maine Secretary of State Matthew Dunlap surmised that Farrar likely holds the distinction. Nationally, a total of 53,364 people were 100 or older, according to 2010 U.S. Census figures, an increase of about 3,000 from figures in 2000.

Born in 1906 in Bar Harbor, the same year baseball great Satchel Paige, playwright Samuel Beckett and Russian composer Dmitri Shostakovich all entered the world, Farrar spent her childhood years in Connecticut. To put her age into historical perspective, the country in 1906, led by Republican President Theodore Roosevelt, was fresh off the inventions of the Industrial Revolution and a scant 40 years removed from the Civil War. Americans were still in awe of the concept of moving pictures as they flocked to theaters to see the first full-length feature film ever released, “The Story of the Kelly Gang.”

The world was edging toward World War I, and Farrar remembers the pomp and circumstance of soldiers marching through the streets of her New Britain hometown as she waved and saluted from her front yard.

“We used to worry about the Kaiser and what would happen when he got over here,” said Farrar with a chuckle. “We would sing war songs and see them off to battle. They had bunting hanging all over town.”

Farrar saw the consequences of the first Great War first hand, as an uncle was severely burned by mustard gas, a dangerous but not always lethal chemical weapon used by the Germans in France.

“He survived, but the after-effects were horrible,” said Farrar. “His skin was in bad shape.”

When she reached the age of 18, her father asked her what she wanted to do, urging her to pick an occupation she would love and not just tolerate.

“We had a family nurse growing up and she was always dressed nice and looked good,” said Farrar. “I figured that was a good job to get into.”

After meeting a recruiter from a local New Britain hospital who visited Farrar’s high school, she signed on for nursing school at the age of 17.

“One thing I did want to do was join the Navy as a nurse,” said Farrar. “But I wasn’t sure if I wanted to leave the country.”

Her nursing career started at the bottom rung, but she quickly proved herself in the eyes of her supervisors at New Britain General Hospital. With a sharp wit and yen for numbers, Farrar eventually attended the Columbia University School of Nursing in New York City, where she took specialized courses in hospital administration and was part of New Britain General, now the Hospital of Central Connecticut, being one of the first facilities to have a Joslin Clinic, a renowned center for diabetes research and treatment. Farrar worked at the New Britain hospital until she was 80, and claims they would have kept her longer if the insurance risk wasn’t so high.

Even now at the Hawthorne House, a nursing home located on Old County Road in Freeport, Farrar will attend to other residents who are feeling melancholy or just need someone to talk to.

“Once a nurse, always a nurse,” said Cheryl Scofield, an aide at the Hawthorne House who has worked with Farrar for the past two years.

“Geta is an amazing woman and fills my heart with joy,” said Scofield. “She’s eager and wants to keep active and looks out for other residents.”

After retiring in 1984, Farrar, a mother of three daughters who divorced her husband in the 1940s, mostly traveled in the United States and kept up her active lifestyle, which has included skiing, horseback riding and long walks. Never a smoker or a drinker, Farrar is reluctant to pass on any advice for longevity, choosing instead to live in the moment, said Cindy Drake, Farrar’s granddaughter-in-law, who is the office manager for Houses & Barns by John Libby in Freeport.

“She is just a wonderful lady who thinks about others all the time,” said Drake, who frequently visits Farrar and brings chocolates, which Farrar shares with Hawthorne House staff. “She really is a sweet lady and it’s hard to believe how old she is.”

Farrar keeps up with pop culture, calling the recent death of television actor Cory Monteith a “shame because he was going places,” and weighing in on the recent success of golfer Tiger Woods, saying “he’s definitely got his swing back.”

When it comes to politics, Farrar, who has been alive through 18 presidential administrations, said she’s always voted for whoever was in office, but admits being concerned about Maine Gov. Paul LePage.

“He contradicts himself, he’s sort of a yo-yo,” she said.

Raised a Methodist, Farrar said she was taught from an early age not to judge people by their skin color, a philosophy that guided her through the racial melting pot of early 20th century New Britain, home to many immigrants drawn to the city’s factories and relative proximity to New York City.

“Race was always a conundrum growing up,” she said.

She brushed aside a question about her thoughts on advances in technology – she was born the same year the first Victrola record player was produced – before retrieving a cell phone and digital camera from her pocketbook.

According to both Scofield and Drake, Farrar has been blessed with remarkably good health. She doesn’t even take a pill, said Drake, with the only sign of her age being a recently purchased hearing aid. In person, Farrar has an easy smile and quick wit and looks younger than her age would suggest.

“The grandkids and great-grandkids really love her,” said Drake. “She was really ahead of her time.”

With her legacy intact through her 16 grandchildren and great-grandchildren, Farrar allows herself to slip into a bit of nostalgia when discussing life.

“Sometimes you need to throw your ideas and passion into the air and see where it lands,” she said. “Just make sure you remember to look for it.”

Doris “Geta” Farrar, who at the age of 107 is likely Maine’s oldest resident, shows off her new cell phone to her granddaughter-in-law, Cindy Drake, during a recent afternoon at the Hawthorne House in Freeport. Farrar, a retired nurse and hospital administrator in New Britain, Conn., says she has no secret to her longevity other than following your passions.