Byrdie Schoewe celebrates 106 years of life on Aug. 26, 2012.

Schoewe (pronounced “shavey”) has resided in Emeritus at Federal Way, a care facility, for the past eight years.

For her milestone birthday, Emeritus held a party, and she even received a letter and photo signed by President Barack Obama.

What’s Byrdie’s secret to longevity?

“I just live every day as it comes,” she said. “Plus I come from a line of long-lived people. That helps.”

Born in 1906, she is the sixth of 13 children and the last one living. Schoewe’s 10 sisters and two brothers all lived well into their 80s and 90s, with one sister reaching 100.

In 1976, she settled in Federal Way with her husband of 62 years, Karl, who died in 1987.

She worked as a homemaker and also manned weather stations for air mail delivery. Schoewe has two children, four grandchildren, four great-grandchildren and four great-great-grandchildren.