Ukiah woman celebrates 100th birthday with family, friends

When Betty Knight of Ukiah celebrated her 100th birthday Thursday, she told the Ukiah Daily Journal her secret to good health was her family.

“I have a lovely family, and they make me eat good!” she said. “I don’t always want to eat good, but they want me to. I like to eat candy, chocolate candy. But they won’t let me.”

The centenarian marked the major birthday with an outdoor gathering with her friends and family.

Donning a purple sparkly tiara and birthday sash while applying her own bright red lipstick, Knight told the Daily Journal she felt great.

“I didn’t know I was ever going to live to be 100!”

Knight met her high school sweetheart and husband, George, in Sebastopol in 1940. The two were married for 76 years and had four children together before George’s death in October 2016.

For the last five years, Knight has lived with her daughter, Nancy Hayes, granddaughter, Lisa and Knight’s beloved dog, Bentley.

Hayes said her mother loves looking out at the trees on her property from her porch. Before the pandemic, she spent her free time wandering around the flower section of the Friedman’s in Ukiah with Bentley.