She’s the <i> Creme de la </i> Cream of Avon Sales

Could it be that the secret to long life--sought after for centuries by people of all lands--is actually to be found in a beauty catalogue?

The family and friends of Mabel Shields, who turned 100 on Sunday, think maybe so.

For the last 31 years, Shields has been an Avon Lady, selling cosmetics, skin-care creams, fragrances and other items to faithful customers in her Glendale neighborhood and in the school district offices where she was long ago employed.

Friends and relatives who gathered at her home recently to celebrate her birthday speculated that the work--taking orders and distributing the products--is a prime reason why Shields is still mentally alert and physically healthy.

“It’s one of the things that keeps her going,” said her only grandson, John Shields. “She’s got something to do and to think about.”

Judy Jacobson, another sales representative for Pasadena-based Avon Products Inc., has known Mabel Shields for 15 years and agreed that “it keeps her in touch with the world.”

Shields, who was widowed in 1942, took on her Avon route in 1960, after she retired from her job as a cafeteria manager for the Glendale Unified School District. She was 69 years old.

Shields said she took up the trade because she needed the money, and she believed in the products, which she used herself. She began by going door to door, and later set up a regular stand on Fridays in the employee cafeteria at the school district offices.

Over the years, her business grew. Until she fell and broke a hip last year, she was considered a Friday fixture at the school district.

“Everybody in the building knows about her,” said Bernadette Nolan, who is in the district’s personnel department and met Shields two years ago. “I was shocked when I heard how old she was.”

Fourteen years ago, when she was about 85, Shields was initiated into Avon’s Presidents’ Club--an honor awarded to the top 10% of the firm’s 1.5 million sales representatives.

Every year after that, until her fall, she continued to be in the top 10% of all sales representatives, said her district manager, Vicki Martinez. The mantelpiece over Shields’ fireplace is lined with the 14 porcelain figurines she received

for that achievement each year.

Shields said that the secret to her booming business was that “I always made friends with everyone I met, every customer.”

Since her accident, Shields’ movement has been restricted, but she has continued her business by overseeing a staff of family and friends who volunteer their time to help her.

A friend from the school district takes orders at the office. Shields fills in the order form, and her only living son, Warren Shields, 70, delivers it to the company headquarters at 2940 E. Foothill Blvd.

Once the products are delivered to Shields’ house, her son and his wife help organize and package them. Her friend takes the packages to the school district and distributes them to her customers.

Business has fallen off some since her accident, but Shields continues to take many phone orders from her regular customers, including some who have been with her since she started selling.

Martinez, Shields’ manager, said Shields never misses an order, and always sends her paperwork on time. On an average order, Shields requests products for 15 to 18 customers.

Warren Shields said he and his wife help keep the business going because it ensures his mother has a steady flow of people to talk to.

“She’s not one to sit around. She always had to have something to do,” he said.

Shields said she does not know the reason for her longevity, or whether her work as an Avon Lady has contributed to her good health.

“I was just living,” she said. “I never even gave that a thought.”

She did say, however, that she has no plans to quit the business.

“I’m used to it,” she said. “I don’t want to retire. I’d get old. I’m going to keep selling as long as I can.”