While Aging Gracefully, Don’t Count the Candles : Milestones: A youthful great-grandmother celebrates her 100th birthday. She plays the piano and bingo regularly, takes good care of herself, but prefers not to add up the years.

Ferdina Lindgren is 100 years old, plays the piano and is a Republican with a sense of humor. She has trouble remembering dates, but that suits her fine because she has a mortal fear of people knowing her age.

“I look younger than I actually am. I want to keep it that way,” she said. “Most people don’t really care how old you are. So there’s no need to spread it around.”

That’s why there were no candles on the cake when she celebrated her 100th birthday Wednesday at the Beverly Manor-Westminster Nursing Center, where she has lived for the past two years.

“She has accepted it was her birthday,” said Mary Campbell, the nursing center’s recreation services director. “But if I brought the candles, she would have killed me.”

“Of course, we don’t want a bonfire here,” joked Kathy Mehl, one of Lindgren’s 10 grandchildren.

Lindgren was born Feb. 3, 1893, in Hallock, Minn., to Swedish immigrants. Three of the couple’s children died of scarlet fever before Ferdina Lindgren was born. She has a 93-year-old brother, Ferdinand, and a sister, Hillary, 96.

She married at 21, raised four boys with her husband, Arthur, in Chicago and then moved to California when Arthur, a businessman, died 25 years ago. Until she broke her hip in an accident two years ago, she lived by herself, said Yvonne Lindgren, wife of Roger Lindgren, Ferdina Lindgren’s youngest son.

“All her life, she has been a housewife and mother,” Yvonne Lindgren said. “She was active in Republican causes and loves to play the piano.”

Campbell, the recreation services director, said that Lindgren, one of 96 residents at the center, participates in bingo games and plays the piano during Bible studies on Thursdays.

“In the evening, her piano playing can be heard throughout the nursing homes and many visitors comment on her musical ability,” Campbell said.

Kim Strandness, one of Lindgren’s 10 grandchildren, said one of her vivid childhood memories is of listening to her grandmother play “Laura’s Theme” from the movie “Doctor Zhivago.”

Alice Mount, 80, a nursing home resident, said Lindgren’s piano playing is always “a joy to hear.”

The nursing home staff, friends and family members said Lindgren has always been conscious of how she looks. “She is meticulous about her appearance,” said Richard Tovar, the nursing home administrator.

Campbell said that Lindgren likes earrings, jewelry and always wants her hair done. “She takes good care of herself,” Campbell said.

“I was raised in a religious family, married a good man, raised a wonderful family of my own. What more could I ask for?” Lindgren said.