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Laurel resident Annie Matthews has spent nearly a century walking.

As a child, she walked five miles from her family's home in Brookeville to school in Brighton. As a working mother who did not drive, she often walked the 10-plus miles from a job in White Oak home to Sandy Spring.

And Matthews, who turned 100 on Saturday, hasn't let age keep her from walking. She still treks up and down Golden Oak Drive in Laurel, where she has lived for the past three years. Gretchen Canty, Matthews' granddaughter, said her grandmother's active nature deceives her age.

"Really, I don't think of her as being 100," she said.

But the stories shared by family and friends at a birthday celebration in Gaithersburg spoke to the century of social and political change that Matthews has lived through.

One of the most significant moments, she said, was living to see an African-American elected president.

"I think it was good and I never thought that would happen," said Matthews, who cast her vote for Barack Obama last fall.

Matthews said she doesn't have any secrets to living a long life, but her granddaughter said longevity is somewhat common in their family. Matthews' mother, Hester Alcorn, lived to be 108.

Matthews — known as "Mama Annie" to her friends and family — was born Sept. 26, 1909, and grew up on a Montgomery County plantation where her father farmed land in exchange for flour and other necessities. She attended an all-black, two-room school before dropping out in the sixth grade to help her mother prepare meals for the men who worked with her father. One of her first jobs was working as a nanny for a white family.

"So there's been a lot of changes, yeah," she said after the party, which was attended by more than 200 friends and family members. "I've seen a lot of changes; I couldn't tell you how many."

Her family moved to Sandy Spring, near Ashton, when she was 17. She was married at 20 and spent her adult life working a number of different jobs to support her family, which included four children.

Matthews also served as a Sunday school teacher, Girl Scout and 4-H Club leader, and was a member of several community organizations in Montgomery County. She has 18 grandchildren, 34 great-grandchildren and 31 great-great-grandchildren.

Devoted to her faith, Matthews would walk three-fourths of a mile to Sandy Spring Wesleyan Fellowship every Sunday, regardless of the weather, said the church's pastor, the Rev. Kenneth Jackson.

"She always walked there and usually she was the first one there," he said.

After living in Montgomery County for most of her life, Matthews moved to Laurel three years ago with her daughter Cora Canty and granddaughter Gretchen Canty. She attends Queen's Chapel United Methodist Church in Beltsville every Sunday and decided to donate all of her birthday gift money to help fund the church's new building.

The Rev. B. Kevin Smalls, pastor at Queen's Chapel, said Matthews has endured many hardships in her life, including the deaths of her three oldest children, but her faith has helped her persevere. Smalls encouraged the friends and family who attended Matthews' birthday party to follow her example of trusting God and loving others.

"In honor of Annie, let's step it up a bit," he said.

Matthews said she enjoyed the celebration, and is still a bit surprised to have reached such a milestone.

"I think it was wonderful," she said. "I never thought I would be 100 years old."

E-mail Caitlin Moran at cmoran@gazette.net.