On April 3, Elizabeth “Betty” Edwards, of Standish, turned 100.

At 5:30 p.m. that day, a parade, led by a flatbed trailer carrying a multitude of multi-colored helium balloons and children, appeared on Deborah Lane, Edwards’ cul-de-sac in Steep Falls. A man driving a 1929 Model T Ford appeared in her driveway and whisked her away, into the parade and down Deborah Lane.

The parade ended with a party at Kendra and Todd Drinkwater’s home at the cul-de-sac entrance, where Edwards was regaled with a gymnastics demonstration, a dance routine and a performance by “Roughness,” a band composed of Bonny Eagle Middle School students. At the party, attended by approximately 100 people (many of whom were children), the Drinkwaters gave her a 100-bead necklace.

“It was exciting,” Edwards said. “There was entertainment. They had a high school band. They had acrobats and they had a dance routine. And these were all with children.”

For Edwards, who has born in Phillips in 1915 and has lived in Standish since 1976, the Deborah Lane parade and party was the second of five birthday parties thrown in her honor earlier this month. Edwards’ daughter, Carol, a Westbrook resident, describes her mother’s run of 100th birthday parties as a singular event that came about due to her unrelenting civic engagement.

“It was an amazing eight- or nine-day event,” said Edwards, who threw her mother a birthday a party on April 4. “She’s been thoroughly engaged in her own community for decades and has stayed engaged in various groups and so people from the groups that she’s involved with as well as neighbors on the street know her and know her well,” Carol Edwards said. “She’s pleased to still be living within the community rather than at a facility.

The Chewonki Foundation and the Standish Congregational Church also threw birthday parties for Edwards, who’s involved with both organizations.

Edwards is well known throughout Standish. In the 30-plus years she has lived in town, Edwards has been a member and president of both the Standish Historical Society and the Grandiflora Garden Club, which also held a 100th birthday party for Edwards. She served more than 10 years on the Planning Board and sat on the Senior Housing Committee as well as the Community Center Committee. She also ran the volunteer program for the Jones Museum in Sebago.

In 2006, at the age of 92, Edwards became a member of the Standish Town Council. Edwards also belongs to the local bridge club and started a volunteer program to work at the Jones Museum on Douglas Hill in Sebago. She has served as grand marshal at the Standish Summer Spectacular, and is the holder of the prestigious Boston Post Cane.

Joline Webber, who has been friends with Edwards since she moved to Standish, marvels at her vitality.

“She has many friends, both young people and older people, she just seems to have a big circle of friends and she’s a very active person, she does many different things,” Webber said. “She fills up her days. She just wants to be doing something every day, which is good.”

So what is Edwards’ secret? How does she do it?

“I save all of my energy for fun,” she said. “I have not had a lot of stress in my life. I’ve always been active physically – dancing, tennis, walking and exercise. I think that’s the key. And keeping your mind active.”

Elizabeth “Betty” Edwards, of Standish, rides in a Model T Ford en route to her second of five 100th birthday parties earlier this month. Edwards has been engaged in a variety of civic enterprises in town since she moved to Standish in 1976.   Photo courtesy of Kendra DrinkwaterEdwards was greeted by a throng of gymnastic young people during birthday celebrations in her Standish neighborhood earlier this month. Courtesy photos