Ann Walko, a published writer and talented painter, has achieved much in her first century. Who knows what the second will bring?

The Wall resident, who turned 100 on Thursday, was born on March 6, 1908, the oldest child of immigrants from the foothills of the Carpathian Mountains of Eastern Europe. In her 1999 book, "Eternal Memory" (SterlingHouse Publisher Inc.), she wrote about her family taking in boarders, butchering a pig and making bread and sauerkraut. She also recalled writing letters to family members in the old country and dancing at weddings to gypsy fiddlers from Braddock. The book has been reprinted four times.

In "Each Day a Celebration," a book of poetry published in 2000 by Anderson Publishing, Mrs. Walko wrote about her philosophy on nature, religion and marriage. In 1935, the former Ann Betz married John F. Walko Sr., the longtime mayor of Wall who died last year after 72 years of marriage. They had three children: John Walko Jr. of Level Green; Maryanne Zaks of Naples, Fla.; and Margaret Susan Miller of Marshall. She also has eight grandchildren and 13 great-grandchildren.

After raising her children, Mrs. Walko attended classes at the University of Pittsburgh, where she was encouraged to write. She became a freelance writer for The Pittsburgh Press in the 1960s and also had short stories published in the Atlantic Monthly. She volunteered at the Turtle Creek Senior Center and at Forbes Hospital's gift shop. Mrs. Walko also found time to paint large detailed portraits of her grandchildren.

At age 90, she found herself taking more time to appreciate simple pleasures:

"I'm beginning to see things I didn't see when I lived a busier life -- little things, like my china. Precious things, like the tree my husband and I planted in 1940, that have been around me all my life but I never really noticed them," she told a PG East reporter in 1998.

"I feel a great need lately to look around and appreciate my world."

Helen K. White didn't learn to drive until she was 58 years old. She had to sit on two cushions to see over the steering wheel of her Buick Roadmaster. But she already was getting around just fine -- on her feet. While living in Dormont, she regularly walked to Mt. Lebanon or Beechview to shop.

Mrs. White, who now lives in Upper St. Clair, turned 100 on Friday. She was born on the North Side on March 7, 1908, and graduated from Divine Providence Academy, then in the East End. On Sept. 2, 1929, she married James R. White at St. Justin Roman Catholic Church on Mount Washington.

They had five children: James of Murrells Inlet, S.C.; Donald (deceased); Mary Pillion of Upper St. Clair; Helene White of Mt. Lebanon; John (deceased); and Patrick of California. Mr. White died in 1972 after 40 years of marriage. Mrs. White has 19 grandchildren, 26 great-grandchildren and two great-great-grandchildren. Each of them has at least one coverlet or afghan that she crocheted for them.