According to Madeline Perry, God doesn't want her and the devil doesn't seem to want her either. "So, here I sit," she says, having no other explanation as to why she has been blessed with 102 healthy years of life.

Maybe she's simply not ready. The spry centenarian is fit as a fiddle and maneuvers her walker as if she took lessons from Mario Andretti.

Perry lived independently in her Reseda home until she was 98. A break-in while she was out encouraged her move into Agoura Hills Senior Retreat, where she has been an active resident for the past four years.

"She has a lot of friends here," says Ahuva Barzion, special projects manager for the retreat, located in Agoura Hills. "The residents all love and respect her for her positive attitude and sense of humor."

Most Tuesdays, you'll find Perry shopping at the mall with the residents, continuing to indulge in her passion for fashion, never tiring of being impeccably dressed and accessorized.

When asked what her favorite fashion era was, she responds, "the one when you could wear gloves and the hats with small veils."

Born in Chicago on Aug. 19, 1906, Perry was the eldest of nine siblings and has outlived them all. Her parents were Italian immigrants who entered through Ellis Island at the age of 16. She remembers the day the Titanic sank, even though she was only 6 years old, because of the commotion it had caused in her household.

In 1955, Perry moved to California with her husband, a successful tool and die maker, and their two children, a daughter, now 80, who lives in Agoura Hills and a son, 70, who lives in Reno.

A homemaker, Perry loved to cook, shunning boxed and frozen foods, and continued to make her own pastas and cookies from scratch for two grandchildren, five great-grandchildren and two great-great grandchildren.

While Perry herself has never suffered health problems, at 57 years old, she lost her 59-year-old husband to a heart attack.

"It was the year Kennedy died, too" she mentions, as he was her favorite president. Never remarrying, the widow sold the Encino home she and her husband had paid cash for and moved into a smaller one in Reseda, learning to do her own repairs and improvements.

She earned income by providing child-care services. Fond of travel, she joined a travel group and shared the most memorable moment of her lifetime with them.

"On my 95th birthday, they took me to Laughlin and Engelbert Humperdinck planted a kiss on my cheek during his performance."

It's never been her nature to resist change, explains Perry, and continues to enjoy being introduced to new things - like Judaism and challah bread.

Although raised Catholic, Perry joined the senior retreat's Friday Shabbat services, describing how she had eyed the delicious-looking bread that is part of the Jewish Sabbath service.

"If that's all I had to eat, I wouldn't need anything else," she says, but adds, "I do enjoy the service," and participates in the songs and prayers.

"As long as someone believes in God, that's also what I believe in"... even if he isn't quite ready for her.

On Aug. 19, at 2 p.m. the senior retreat will host a community birthday party for Perry and the public is invited to join. Themayor of Agoura Hills will also attend the special celebration.

The senior retreat's Friday traditional Shabbat service also welcomes the public to join the family setting of spiritual enrichment every Friday at 3:30 p.m.

For more information, call 818-991-3544.