Born in 1920, Lehigh Valley resident Maria Schmid turns 103 this year.

Born in Germany’s Black Forest region in the small village of Nehren, Schmid entered the United States in 1929 at the age of nine. Six years earlier her father had emigrated from Germany seeking work. Until they rejoined him, Schmid’s mother cared for her and her younger brother and worked as much and often as she was able.

The family first settled in Nashville, Tenn. where they stayed for several years eventually moving to Brooklyn, N.Y. She recalls she was about 12 when the family relocated to Brooklyn. Moving from a rural village that lacked a doctor and a home where water was drawn from a well to urban communities in a foreign country required strength and adaptability. Schmid possesses both.

Her father was a professional tailor; clothing was made from personal measurements and required precise placements of buttons and button holes. (Zippers were first used for clothing in 1925 but were not widely employed until the 1940s.)

Schmid still owns a suit her father made for her when she was a teenager.

In 1943, she married and remained living in Brooklyn where she worked in JCPenney’s accounts payable department. After the war, her husband worked for Bell Labs, a job that led the family to move to the Lehigh Valley. The year was 1956.

Here she raised three children, cooked and baked from scratch, crocheted, gardened and volunteered. “I wanted to be part of the community,” Schmid said.

Her community activities included working at an Allentown food bank, as a school crossing guard and in a school library.

An avid gardener, Schmid also was employed for 30 years as a part-time flower arranger at Phoebe Florist. In addition, she grew flowers and all her own vegetables. In her words, “I had something blooming all the time.”

At 103 years of age, Schmid remains alert, aware and independent. When asked for the secret of her long life she credits trying to eat healthy and explains, “I was busy.”