People: Angele Delagnes -- She's 100 and going strong People: Angele Delagnes -- She's 100 and going strong (October 19, 2005)

By Jane Knoerle

Almanac Lifestyles Editor

If you would like to stop by Angele Delagnes' Menlo Park home to ask her the secret to living to be 100, don't do it on Monday, Wednesday, or Friday afternoons because that's when she's playing bridge.

On October 1, Ms. Delagnes celebrated her 100th birthday with family and friends at the Menlo Circus Club in Atherton. Appropriately, the theme was playing cards with the invitation reading, "If you play your cards right you could live to be 100."

Fifty-two guests, the same number as in a deck of cards, attended the grand affair.

Ms. Delagnes was born in Oakland and likes to say her cradle rocked while the earth shook in the 1906 San Francisco earthquake. She was widowed at 45, never remarried and has lived in the same house for 63 years.

She has one son, Andre Delagnes of Atherton; six grandchildren; and 14 great-grandchildren. Many family members live nearby and drop in frequently.

Grandchildren who live locally are Adrien Delagnes of Redwood City, Duane Delagnes of Menlo Park, Jon Delagnes of Menlo Park, and Nicole Patton of Atherton.

Along with bridge, Ms. Delagnes enjoys gardening, and reading several books a month.

She gave up driving at 97 after breaking her hip. The accident also cut back on her square dancing and bowling. Ms. Delagnes has been a member of Little House since 1969.

"We are so proud to be blessed by this truly amazing woman," says her granddaughter Nicole Patton.

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