MELVILLE, La (KLFY) — For Willie Mae Bonton, 97 of Melville living to be nearly 100-years-old isn’t half bad.

“Sometimes days I feel like I’m old and sometimes day I’m in-between,” Bonton stated.

Don’t get her wrong, she’s not complaining. Willie Mae has fought her share of battles and won quite a few.

“I had a stroke in November but that didn’t stop me.”

She says she was born in Melville and Melville is where she stayed.

“I was raised in Melville, Louisiana.  I stayed across the street from where was born,” Bonton added.

Willie Mae and her husband had one child, a daughter.

“I had my daughter when I was 18 years old.”

In her early years, Willie Mae worked in the kitchen of family homes and then as a teacher’s aide. Willie Mae retired in her 70’s.

“I would not have stopped but I had a problem with my heart and that’s why I stopped.”

Her advice for young people is to live whole heartedly in faith.

“Don’t forget to pray because prayer makes you stronger each day of your life,” Bonton stated.

Plus she would tell young people to always smile. 

“If don’t smile, you’ll have wrinkles,” Bonton added.

If give a chance to do something she never got the chance to do, she would set her eyes to the sky and travel.

“I have grandchildren out of state and I would travel,” Bonton added.