When you turn 105, the birthday party comes to you.
And what a bash it was for Rosa Nell Hammer on Oct. 2, held in front of her home, on a street the town named for the retired Realtor.
Settled in a chair beneath a marquee, Hammer watched dozens of friends, former real estate colleagues and relatives enjoy a buffet lunch from Casavana Restaurant.
“I’m in shock,” said Hammer, who was enjoying all the festivities in tribute to her. “You don’t get to [this age] without the help of a lot of people.”
Friends dropped off gifts of orchid plants and gave her hugs. They posed for a selfie machine in front of a wall covered in rose-patterned paper and hammed it up, wearing a pink cowgirl hat and funny sunglasses.
As he has in years past, Alex Ruiz, district sales manager of The Keyes Company, put on the party for his former Realtor.
They began working together when Hammer was in her 80s.
Saxophone player Norlan Diaz entertained the crowd that included family: Hammer’s niece Gloria Sumner, 81, from New York; granddaughter Patricia Hammer and her Poodle Blanche, who live in the area; son Brent Hammer, 79, from Texas, and daughter Candy Meeks, 74, from Alabama.
“She’s had multiple lives,” said Sumner.
Brent Hammer said of his mother and her longevity, “She won’t quit!”
Allan Pelaez lives next door and was a real estate business team partner of Hammer’s from 2003 until she retired.
“She’s a different breed,” Pelaez said, admiring his friend. “She just has a passion for life. She’s always active, takes care of her plants, makes awesome chili, goes to church ...”
Another friend attributed Hammer’s long life to the careers and adventures she has had.
In Akron, Ohio during World War II, Ohio, Hammer served on a speed riveting team in a Goodyear factory that built Navy Corsair Fighter planes.
Post-war, she repaired aircraft at a base in South Carolina.
After her time as a “Rosie the Riveter,” she married Harvey Hammer, who continued his military service after the war. They traveled the world together.
In Miami Lakes, the couple raised four children, two of whom are still living and were present to toast their mother with her friends.
Hammer was a champion orchid grower and has one -- a yellow and gold- striped Cattleya -- named after her.
And she had a very successful career in residential real estate, selling her last home at age 100 while with The Keyes Company.
A banner hung over the party buffet said Hammer was “Aged to Perfection.”
In nearby Veterans Park last year, the Miami Lakes Veterans Committee planted an oak tree in her name, for her service during wartime.