LEWISVILLE -- For Nicie Ophelia Lambeth, there was no going out and whooping it up on Miss Nicie Ophelia Lambeth Day in Lewisville.
Despite turning 100, Lambeth celebrated yesterday's milestone with little fuss.
She visited with friends. She recited Bible verses. She watched a few game shows.
And as far as doing anything special?
"I'm going to do the same special thing I do every day:" Lambeth said. "Take a nap."
Lambeth may not have been overly impressed with her achievement, but the Lewisville Town Council thought that her 100th birthday deserved some recognition.
During its meeting last week, Mayor Dan Pugh read a proclamation declaring yesterday Miss Nicie Ophelia Lambeth Day. Lambeth stood on her own accord, faced the audience and recited from memory six of the nine stanzas from Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's A Psalm of Life.
When she finished, the audience gave her a standing ovation.
Her longtime neighbor, Juanita Tatum, contacted the town hall about Lambeth's birthday.
"I couldn't let this history pass without telling the world," Tatum said.
The town frequently honors residents for their accomplishments or community contributions.
Lambeth grew up in a farmhouse in the Vienna community. Her father dug wells. Her mother was a domestic worker. She went to a segregated school until seventh grade, when her education stopped because there was not a segregated high school. Carver High School opened a few years later, but by that time, Lambeth said, she was too old for high school.
During World War II, she and a friend moved north to take advantage of good-paying jobs in factories. Lambeth helped install engines into Corsairs and, later, made radios for General Electric. The money that she sent back to her family helped pay for a lot and house, where she still lives, near her childhood home.
She returned to Forsyth County in 1962 to care for an ailing sister and began cleaning houses. By that time, Lambeth had already begun memorizing poems and Bible verses for entertainment.
"Wherever I did domestic work, I would ask if I could use their Bible, and they would always privilege me with that," she said about her employers. "That was my company."
She would open the Bible to a particular chapter, read over a verse or two until she committed it to memory, then resume dusting or sweeping.
Lambeth quit working when she was 91. She remains active in her church, Bethlehem AME Zion, and continues to drive her Buick to such places as the bank and grocery store. She plans to renew her license when she is 103.
Lambeth lives with a cousin and is close to many of her neighbors. Her only child, Roy, died in 1976.
As for her good health, Lambeth said she never overindulged in food or alcohol, quit smoking years ago when it became too expensive, and likes to exercise. But she knows she is slowing down.
"My body tells me I've reached 100," Lambeth said.
■ Lisa O'Donnell can be reached at 727-7420 or at lo'donnell@wsjournal.com.
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