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RESERVE – The secret to a long and healthy life lies in drinking lots of milk and staying active with frequent morning walks, according to Rosalie Terrio.

Terrio was born Jan. 23, 1920 in Napoleonville, Louisiana. She moved to Reserve at a young age with her parents, George and Ida Cancienne, as her father pursued a career in the sugarcane industry. Reserve was where she built a home with Larry Terrio, her husband of nearly 70 years.

Larry Terrio passed away at age 95. Rosalie Terrio recently celebrated her 100^th birthday, and the momentous occasion reunited her with extended family members she hadn’t seen in ages.

While Terrio lived independently in Reserve through age 99, she moved to the Ormond Nursing Care facility in Destrehan after a fall in March 2019 landed her a broken hip. She’s experienced a few more falls in the meantime, according to her daughter, Lillian Terrio Leblanc, but nothing could stop the family from celebrating her 100^th birthday milestone.

“She’s still here, and we knew we needed to honor that and have the party,” Leblanc said. “She does have a little bit of memory loss. We didn’t know how she would be around a bunch of people, but she did great. The weather was beautiful. Everybody said how good she looked. They laughed, they reminisced and they shared stories. It made her remember.”

The first celebration took place Jan. 23 with residents of the Ormond Nursing Care facility. The second took place Saturday, Jan. 25, in Reserve and saw attendance from Terrio’s close cousins, her six children and numerous grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

Daughter Diane “Dee” Campos said her mother has always been a feisty little lady who’s not afraid to speak her mind.

“She said what she thought,” Campos said. “She didn’t have a filter most of the time, but everybody loves her.”

She was close to the heart of the St. Peter Catholic Church community, where she sang in the choir for Mass and funerals for nearly 70 years. She was still singing through her mid-90s, and it was only one example of the dedication she’s had to the church.

Terrio was also part of the American Legion Auxiliary and the Ladies’ Altar Society.

“She worked in the thrift shop at St. Peter’s Church, and she also worked in the rectory putting papers together,” Leblanc said. “She got an award from the Archdiocese one year, probably in the 90s, for doing service in the community and in the church.”

For a few years, Terrio held a part time job at her brother’s store, Don’s Supermarket in Reserve.

Above all, she taught her children to work hard and always take care of themselves. She provided for her children by cooking with ingredients from the family garden and advocated for a healthy lifestyle.

By 6 o’clock every morning, Terrio would be out of the house for a morning walk with her sister and a couple of ladies she would meet up with in the neighborhood. As she got older, she kept an indoor exercise bike that she used through her late 90s.

While she sang at many funerals, Terrio never had much interest in thinking about her own. According to Campos, she wants visitors to see her while she’s alive and able to enjoy her company. That’s exactly what the family did.

“She had a very good day,” Campos said. “She was awake, listening, looking and talking. She really enjoyed it.