Note: Originally published as print-only in The Lancaster-Depew Sun Newspaper.

Ola “Beezee” Benzee turned 106 this past Saturday, Jan. 18, but her spirit and sense of humor remains as young as ever. The GreenFields Continuing Care Community in Lancaster surprised Beezee with a party to celebrate another momentous year.

Benzee, who has always gone by Beezee, is known for being a modest, humorous, reckless, outgoing, beautiful, sweet lady. Over the last 106 years, she’s definitely built quite a reputation for herself.

Beezee was born in Rochester and grew up in Buffalo going to night school for her high school degree at Hutchinson Central Technical High School, as she was going to school during the time of World War II and the Great Depression.

She started working at Buffalo Arms during the war doing secretarial work. Eventually, she worked her way up to being a director of claims and a supervisor of other employees. It was there that she met and became best friends with Paul Scholz’s mother, who would eventually ask Beezee to be her son’s godmother.

At work, she was known to yell if she saw you unoccupied or slacking. She would wear slippers so you couldn't hear her coming up behind you, trying to catch people off guard.

“I worked for her for a year and a half,” Paul’s wife Liz said. “The word would come through, ‘Beezee’s coming, look busy!’”

Paul and Liz Scholz visit Beezee often at GreenFields, assisting her with coloring and crafting activities.

Beezee has always been a good artist. Her paintings, needlepoint work and coloring pages cover her resident walls, and her door is decorated for the winter season with big snowmen that she made herself. Her other great passion is for the outdoors.

“I always liked sports,” Beezee said. “I grew up playing sports.”

She recalls being active throughout her life by golfing, ice skating, skiing, and playing baseball. She golfed everyday of the week into her 90s, only stopping because of her bad knee. She was the women’s champ at Fort Erie for several years.

“She was a really good golfer and artist,” Paul said. “Those were the two big things.”

Paul reminisced about one of the times they went cross country skiing together at Chestnut Ridge Park. Beezee was in her late 70s going down the slope when she went off the path and fell into a gully. Then, she stuck her skies up and said, “I’m okay!”

Everyone was holding their breath, praying she’s okay. Meanwhile, she was getting ready for round two.

“Because of her age, we were always careful, but she always would push it with whatever, with the skiing and everything else,” Paul said.

The same could be said about her affection for cars; Liz admits that Beezee was always a reckless driver. She recalled when Beezee and Paul’s mom were driving on a beach when Beezee hit a stone, and the car overturned.

“That was before seat belts,” Paul explained, “so I remember my mother saying, ‘I put my hands to the air, my feet down there, and we just rolled with the car!’”

Right now, she owns a screaming yellow Ford Mustang convertible that she refuses to sell. It sits in the garage at GreenFields, and Paul occasionally takes Beezee for rides around the block in her prized possession.

Beezee admits she doesn’t have a secret for living so long.

“What’s to talk about?” she asked. “I’m here. Don’t ask me how I got here.”

But, if she had to give one piece of advice, she said, “I think the point is, you’re here. Make the most of it. It’s entirely up to you how it goes, good or bad.”