She has 102 to choose from, but this might just be Bev Sherwood’s best birthday ever.

The much loved member of the Gerringong community received a rock star welcome when she arrived at Gerringong Public School on the Bowling Club bus, after being ferried around streets decked out with pink ribbons and signs to mark the occasion.

After singing Happy Birthday, the crowd sang along to Elton John's I'm Still Standing, while Bev greeted the crowd individually.

Some Kindy kids mistook her for the Queen.

Born in 1920, the same year as Qantas (Winton) and Streets Ice Cream (Wollongong), Bev’s birthday has been celebrated all week.

Yesterday, Gerringong Fire Brigade visited her at her fitness class at the Bowlo to present her with gifts, and Soul Fit Co studio has been a flurry of pink all week.

Bev does two gym classes a week there, a chair aerobics and a spin class. Then, without the use of a walker, she walks about 1km hom. She still walks her dog Arthur along the beach each day.

Korin Koutsomichalis, Bev’s gym instructor says Bev has told her that her secret to such a long life is that she I touches her toes 10 times a day!

“She loves to exercise and is a great walker. In class she moves with energy. When other people in the class think the going is tough, they look at Bev and she’s smiling and full of energy,” says Korin.

“But it is the love she and Bill shared that is just truly romantic, like the film The Notebook. She loved Bill so much and he was such a gentle man.”

Bev with her granddaughter Vicki

After a childhood illness Bev taught herself to walk again when she was 13. Her father was a religious man, she says, and they used to hand out baskets of food to local people.

“That was when the war was on. That was a bad time,” she says.

“When we were handing out baskets, a local boy asked if I would go to the dance with him. I was nervous and said, ‘I don’t want to dance with you!’ (but I do remember he had a wonderful smile).

“My father told me that I’d been rather rude.

“I married that boy when I was 17! A few years later, I was going mad at my husband and he started to laugh. I said, ‘What are you laughing at?’ and he said, ‘I was just thinking of the time you said you didn’t want to dance with me!’

“I apologised and said I had been really rude! And he said, ‘Let’s go out to tea!’ He was a marvellous man. I miss him so much.”

Bill never called Bev by her name, he always called her ‘Beautiful’.

It was Bill who got Bev into sport. Bill played Rugby League for South Sydney. The two moved from Oatley to Gerringong 42 years ago. Together they raised a family, lived, laughed, golfed, roller skated, played tennis and were local lawn bowling champions. Sadly, Bill died 14 years ago.

Bev’s granddaughter Vicki, who lives in Spears Point Lake Macquarie, came to help her celebrate this week.

Bev says that sometimes she is sad when she thinks that all her close family is gone, even her younger brother. Gerringong’s friendly community has been her support, she says, and Bev is treasured by all who meet her.