Local Woman Turns 105

ALEXANDRIA, Va. (WUSA) -- There aren't many people who have walked in Rowena Ellison's shoes. She is 105-years-young.

With daughters, grandkids and friends around, Ellison tells 9NEWS NOW the secret to a long life.

"Mind your own business," she says.

She has five children. Her daughter Lorraine Duncan says her mother eats what she wants.

"She's eaten eggs all of her life, even when they said they were full of cholesterol. So she already did what she wanted to do! She likes it over easy," Duncan adds.

Ellison was born in 1904 and has lived almost all of her life in Virginia. Duncan says she worked most of her life at Heller's Bakery of Washington, DC. Now she lives alone, and her children visit frequently.

"I sit; I read; I watch TV. I cook, and I eat, and I go to bed," Ellison says.

She loves baseball and football. She roots for the Baltimore Orioles and the Washington Redskins.

Genetics may also play a part in her longevity. According to Duncan, she is a descendent of a Revolutionary soldier who lived to be over 90-years-old.