Woman celebrates 106th birthday and gives surprising advice for living a long life

LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- Gertrude Hawkins celebrated her 106th birthday with a sense of humor and some advice for those hoping to live a long life: don't let nothing bother you.

Hawkins was born March 28, 1917 and is the daughter of farmers from Mississippi and Arkansas. She is known as "Aunt Trim" to her loved ones in the Los Angeles area and doesn't hesitate to speak her mind.

"I don't let nothing bother me because worry gets you nothing but gray hair, and I don't want that," Hawkins said.

Lou Davis, who has known Hawkins for 82 years, says he loves her charisma and kindness.

"She is a giving person. Kind. And we like her charisma. We love her charisma. The way she carries herself," said Davis.

Her family calls her a trailblazer, citing her as the pioneer who brought the family out West.

"We all followed my Aunt Trim to the West Coast," said Ryan Hope, Hawkins' great nephew. "If it weren't for her being one of the pioneers to come to the West Coast early on in life, we wouldn't be here."

But for Hawkins, she remembers her time growing up as a farmer in the South fondly, saying it was actually the "best life."

"You work from sunup to sun down. So you didn't have much thinking to do," said Hawkins. "I thought it was the worst life in the world, but it was the best life."

"You didn't have to lock your door," Hawkins continued. "You could go out and stay a year and pull the door behind you, and come back, and nobody's been in your house."

Hawkins has outlived three siblings and has one adopted son. Even at the age of 106, she is able to make her party guests laugh as she puts her leg up on her walker.

She has nothing but valuable advice for those hoping to listen. She says the key to living a long life is to treat everyone right and go on living.

"I try to treat everybody right, that way I have no worries, no regrets about my life," Hawkins said. "I got one answer for everybody, it is to live and don't die."