Iron furnaces. War. Floods. Television.

Helen Kleinman has seen it all this past century. Saturday, the Ironton woman will turn 100 years old.

"I never thought I would make it this long," she said Thursday night in her room at Jo-Lin Health Center. "As a child, I wasn't that well, but I grew stronger as I got older."

As she grew older, Kleinman began to date.

"We played Old Maid at the house, sat on the porch swing and ate ice cream," she said.

Kleinman said she was allowed to leave the house for dates -- as long as she was back by 11 p.m. Coming in later would result in a "good talkin' to," so she and her siblings almost always came home on time.

She said she does not know how she has lived so long, but Elaine Kleinman, her nephew Tim's wife, has her own theory.

"She never married, and she never had kids," Elaine Kleinman joked.

Helen Kleinman did have one longtime boyfriend, whom she estimates she dated for 15 years.

Helen Kleinman dropped out of school in the ninth grade after one of her friends quit and begged her mother to let her quit as well. Her mother allowed this under one condition -- she went to work.

She began working as a board operator, a person who plugged lines into a large board that connected calls, in Ironton. Later, her father got sick and Helen Kleinman had to quit her job to take care of him. After her father died, she went to work at Buckeye Ordinance in South Point as a board operator.

She said she didn't need a driver's license then.

"I just got in the car and drove," she said.

Working at the telephone offices was always interesting, Helen Kleinman said.

"You could sometimes listen to someone," she said.

While working here, her late sister Francis came to her with a proposition -- starting their own business. The Needle Craft Kiddie Shop, near the location of Iron City Hardware was born.

The store sold clothing for children from birth to age 16, Helen Kleinman said. One of her items was crocheted baby sets she made herself that she sold for $7.98. Her work at the Kiddie Shop came to an end when her late brother Charlie became sick, and she began taking care of him.

Her relationship with her boyfriend also ended. Helen Kleinman said she really does not know why things ended between them. After all, they were planning to get married and had purchased rings and found a house. When she later encountered him, she said they believed they were both too busy taking care of their families.

Even though Helen Kleinman never had her own children, her house was always full of them, particularly her four nieces and nephews: Tim, Ann, Joe, and Alice. These were the children of her late brother Joe, the only one of her siblings that married.

"We had a lot of fun," she said. "I loved them as if they were my own."

These children would visit the house on Fifth and Oak Streets that she shared with Charlie and Francis, especially after she got a television. The first television Helen Kleinman said she had was one that had no picture, only sound.

A feathered friend also attracted neighborhood children -- a talking parrot named Polly.

Polly lived for 69 years, Helen Kleinman said. At first, he didn't say anything, but he then started saying her name. He once escaped from his cage, but was found when a neighbor called saying Polly was in a tree saying, "Helen."

Later, Polly would say just about anything.

"He didn't cuss, but he would say, 'Go to Hell,'" Helen Kleinman said.

Helen and Francis put a large cage on their front porch, and the neighborhood kids would stop by to talk to Polly on their way to school and on their way home. Parents would frequently call her, asking if their children were there.

As he got older, Polly would play on her lap like a cat or dog, Helen Kleinman said. Then, she lost her friend.

"I put him on a blanket and felt him, and I knew that he was gone," she said.

Helen Kleinman said she doesn't know what has kept her alive for so long, but she has never smoked, only consumed small amounts of alcohol (never enough to get herself intoxicated), and usually only wears rouge and lipstick for cosmetics. Recently, she replaced her lipstick with Chap Stick.

She had cancer surgery at 90, which she survived with "flying colors," she said. Gall bladder troubles also made her very sick a few years ago, but she pulled through it.

Elaine Kleinman also credits the work of the nurses at Jo-Lin Health Center who take care of her and Helen's regular prayer.

This Saturday, family and friends will gather at Jo-Lin in her honor, with the St. Joseph Church Men's Choir singing. Ann has arrived from California and Alice, from Florida.

Looking back on her 100 years, Helen Kleinman is proud.

"I don't regret anything," she said.