SANDPOINT — Tacks are hardly as sharp as Frankie Clouse, who is celebrating her 102nd birthday on Saturday.

The Bonner County great-great-grandmother still maintains an independent lifestyle at her home overlooking the Pend Oreille River. The Atlanta-born, Texas-raised centenarian doesn’t wear glasses or use a walker and doubts her story can pass as news.

Friends and family, however, politely disagree.

“She’s a dandy,” said Priest Lake resident Bob Hatfield, who became acquainted with Clouse through the First Presbyterian Church of Sandpoint and has a vivid memory of encountering her while the church was being renovated in the early 2000s.

“She was in there swinging a hammer, tearing out sheetrock,” said Hatfield. “I just didn’t expect to see a little old lady doing that sort of thing.”

Clouse’s magnetic personality has drawn in a network of friends who say she is adept at cracking wise, grounded in her faith and has a drive that would put most people younger than her to shame.

“She is one of a kind,” said Julie Trenholm.

Trenholm also has an indelible memory of Clouse helming the church’s vacation Bible school at Mirror Lake.

“She was the best director. She was fun and she kept the kids moving,” said Trenholm.

Clouse was born in 1917, the year the U.S. entered World War I and jazz recordings started being pressed into records. As a single mother, she worked repairing fuel tank bladders at a Goodyear plant in California during World War II.

But Clouse insists her life didn’t really begin until she met her late husband, Frank. Her most delightful experience in life was marrying him.

“When I married my Frank, my life began again,” she said.

After Frank’s retirement, the couple decamped from California to Bonner County and found their dream home, which was originally little more than a shack. It was expanded over time and large bay windows were installed to offer expansive views of the river and the wildlife that teem on its banks.

“Moving up her has been my salvation,” she said.

Clouse’s most distressing life event was losing Frank early in an automobile-related mishap.

Clouse said she is grateful for the people in her orbit and the five generations of her family that will descend on her home to celebrate another milestone.

“I have the most wonderful support system,” she said.

Clouse also brims with good-natured sass. She tacks on the word “baby” to the end of her sentences with an easy charm akin to a Rat Pack-era Sammy Davis Junior or a “Kojak”-era Telly Savalas.

Clouse is pretty tough, too. She survived cancer and once chased down a motorist who struck her vehicle in the roundabout at Boyer and Larch to the amazement of law enforcement.

Clouse can also break into “You Made Me Love You” by Al Jolson mid-conversation and has been known to cut a rug.

“She danced a jig at her 100th birthday party,” said Trenholm.

When asked how she made to an advanced age while staying in remarkable shape, she offered this:

“I never drank. I never smoked and I never chased wild men.”

Keith Kinnaird can be reached by email at kkinnaird@bonnercountydailybee.com and follow him on Twitter @KeithDailyBee.