SAN ANTONIO -- Don't be fooled by the wheelchair. When Rose Hanauer was told another reporter wanted to visit with her about her 102nd birthday on Monday, she was taking in the hint of spring in the morning air as she walked the grounds of The Haven residential facility.

"I'm not an insider," said Hanauer, who said she still indulges in her favorite pastime. "I just love hiking."

The Haven's oldest resident said she has made the most of life's simple pleasures, given the first half of her life in Germany bore witness two World Wars. Although she escaped to London with her husband at the time, her entire family was lost in the Holocaust.

"Usually you remember the bad things, but I remember the good things, too," said Hanauer, describing the first of several "mixtures" in her life. "It's always a mixture."

Perhaps that is why Rose Hanauer is known as a woman with a strong will and an easy-going attitude.

"What I want to do is what I want to do," she said. "Sometimes you insist on this point, sometimes you give in."

"I think she's a blessed woman," said Elizabeth Barkoh, a licensed vocational nurse at The Haven.

The conversation Barkoh had with Hanauer is a good indication the facility's oldest resident has not lost her sense of humor.

"You look good for your age, Rose." said Barkoh.

Hanauer paused a moment, as if waiting to deliver the punch line.

"Yeah, I know," she said. "Otherwise, I wouldn't be here."