Anthone "Toni" Phipps of El Cerrito celebrated her 109th birthday Friday. She was born Dec. 7, 1898, in Des Moines, Iowa.

"She is an amazing woman," said Shelia Murphy, who has worked as Phipps' private certified nurse assistant the past five years. "She's the healthiest person I know right now. She takes no medications, other than a Tylenol at night. She has no arthritis, no Alzheimer's, no high blood pressure."

What is her secret to longevity? She said it's her attitude on life, The Oakland Tribune reported Saturday.

"I believe in pretty much taking life as it comes, as we have really no authority over it. As life comes and goes, we adapt ourselves to every situation," she told the newspaper.

Phipps, whose father was a physician and her mother a school teacher, worked for about 18 years on a research team with a Nobel laureate in the University of California Berkeley's chemical engineering department until she retired.