DOWAGIAC — For most people, Feb. 7 may have been a typical evening. However Henrietta Lace, of Dowagiac, she was busy celebrating her 99th birthday.

Lace was joined by four of her seven children and one grandchild in Dowagiac on Friday evening. The group celebrated with cupcakes, ice cream, cake and chocolate-covered strawberries.

As Lace sat on the couch next to her son, Charlie, she said she did not feel like she was 99.

“I don’t feel that old,” she said. “But I don’t know what it’s supposed to feel like.”

Lace grew up in Dowagiac on Prairie Ronde. Some of her earliest childhood memories are traveling by horse and buggy to see the fireworks over in Watervliet, where her uncle was chief of police.

“I remember going out and playing ball in the yard and scrubbing our faces with my dad’s whiskers,” Lace recalled. “After school, my dad would always be waiting for us to walk home to Prairie Ronde.”

She attended Dowagiac Central High School, and on May 29, 1937, Lace, who at the time was 16, married Charles Damon Lace, who everybody called Damon. They had met at church.

“He was walking past us, and then he stopped and started talking to us,” Lace said of how the pair met. “I don’t think he went back to church after that.”

Damon served in World War II and was awarded a purple heart.

The couple went on to have seven children, four of whom were present at the party. Lace also has 18 grandchildren, 35 great-grandchildren and 21 great-great-grandchildren.

Having lived in Dowagiac for most of her life, Lace said she feels the town has not changed that much. Her son, Jim, recalls going on trips to Caruso’s Candy and Soda Fountain with his mother. Lace also remembers seeing bands play every Wednesday downtown.

She worked at Bob’s Café in Avalon and at another restaurant in Niles.

“I really enjoyed it,” she said.

Lace, who remains independent for the most part, has strengthened her relationship with her daughter, Sarah Beebe in her late years. Beebe does most of Lace’s caregiving.

The pair used to go to Ponderosa in Mishawaka every Wednesday for dinner before the restaurant shut down in 2016. Now, they still make weekly outings to restaurants that are easily accessible for Lace. Beebe also takes Lace to her doctor’s appointments, and before Friday’s occasion, Lace got her hair done for the event as a gift from her granddaughter, Katherine Atkinson, who lives in Utah. At 96, Lace visited Atkinson in Utah.

“I take after her a lot,” said Beebe speaking of her and her mother’s relationship. “She is sometimes stubborn, but we have gotten much closer.”

Also, in attendance at the party was one of Lace’s other daughters, Mary Diethrich, who described the 99-year-old as someone who was always there for people.

“When I was enrolled in classes at Western Michigan University, she would go with me to my classes and sit outside the lectures,” Diethrich said with a smile. “She was that kind of person who would always donate more money if she thought someone wasn’t given enough.”

Beebe recalled how Lace used to embroider eloquent pillowcases and bedspreads. She still has one with two huge peacocks on the front.

As old age has taken its toll on Lace, she is starting to lose her vision and is unable to read or do crossword puzzles.

“She really misses it,” Beebe said. “I can tell some nights when I’m reading to her that she just wants to be able to see the words herself.”

Granddaughter Mary Anne Ward recalled how Lace was always making peanut butter fudge and popcorn.

Lace also hosted the family’s Christmas party every year at her home.

As the party continued, Lace sat in her chair, surrounded by her loved ones embracing another trip around the sun.

“All my kids are here, so I am happy,” she said. “I like to have company.”