POST FALLS - Ruth Dixon and Betty Hollingsworth have enjoyed making others happy.

That, the 100-year-old women say, has led to their long, joyful lives.

Dixon turns 100 today, while Hollingsworth reached the century mark on Thursday. The women don't know each other, but there are themes in both of their lives from which we can learn.

"I love to make people happy and that's what makes me happy," Hollingsworth said during a party at Garden Plaza of Post Falls.

Hollingsworth still sings big band music with her daughters for the Mom and the Redheads group that performs at the Post Falls Senior Center. She also still lives alone.

"She wants to go all the time," said Iva Jane Smith, one of her daughters. "She's very energetic."

Daughter Ruth Chase said she has never heard her mother say that she's tired.

"I've always said that she can walk rings around all of us daughters," Chase said.

Hollingsworth participated in marathons and walkathons dating back to the 1930s. She also loved to dance.

"She says that she has got the most ham in the family," Chase said.

Dixon, like Hollingsworth, has lived a life of pleasing others.

"Her favorite hobby is to give to others," said Danielle Dixon, Ruth's granddaughter.

Dixon said that, more than ever, she enjoys keeping up on current events. She reads the Wall Street Journal daily.

"When you're older, you become more interested in history," she said.

Dixon was a Democrat delegate in Michigan, but swayed to the right over time.

"It made sense," she said.

She was an actress, performing in New York's off-Broadway shows during the Prohibition era.

"I was naturally rather good at it - I was given the leads in high school and college - but I didn't like it enough," she said. "I didn't like the life. You spent so much time trying to get a job. It didn't appeal to me."

Dixon lived most of her life in Midland, Mich., where her father, E.O. Barstow, became Dow Chemical's first chemist. The family, daughter-in-law Mary Beth Dixon said, was philanthropic, and a building in town bears the Barstow name.

Ruth Dixon, who has been single for 40 years, grew up with five brothers and no sisters.

"I was fine," she said in a reassuring tone. "They were all very nice to me. I took over the play room. I told them, 'You can come in if you play with my dolls.'"

Ruth never criticizes anyone and takes things in stride, family members say. That combination has visibly influenced others.

"I never knew that I was so nice," Ruth said with a smile. "All the cards and letters say what kind of person I am. Gee, I didn't know that I was that special."