Dora Champoux of Renton marks her 104th

The white cake is stuck with just three candles. A one, a zero and a four. “Happy Birthday Dora!” the frosted message reads.

The cake is for Dora Champoux. She turned 104 Tuesday, and her caretaker Nadia Craia threw a party.

Nadia cares for several “beautiful ladies” at Sunset Adult Family Home off Maple Valley Highway. Dora is the first to turn 104.

Nadia was initially confused when Dora’s daughter Marilyn Fischer called three years ago.

“She called and said she was looking for a place for her mother, who was 101,” Nadia recalls.

Nadia didn’t know what the 101 meant. One hundred and one pounds?

No, years.

“Woah,” Nadia said.

Three years later, Nadia is still saying “woah.”

“Not many people get to be 104,” she says.

Born in 1905 in Lambertville, Minnesota, Dora was one of 13 children. Three of her sisters — ages 95, 92 and 91 — are still alive.

Before marrying at age 24, Dora taught in a one-room schoolhouse. After marrying Harvey Champoux, Dora moved to North Dakota, then West Seattle in 1942. Harvey heard Boeing had good-paying jobs. Dora was a Rosie the Riveter at Boeing during World War II. Harvey was a machinist.

After the war, Dora sewed pants and down jackets. When Harvey retired the couple bought a laundromat.

Harvey died in his early 70s. Dora plugged on — sewing, going to church every Sunday and playing dominoes and Pictionary with family.

She’s lived a good life, says daughter Marilyn.

Still is.

Dora moved to Sunset Adult Family Home when she broke her hip four years ago. She broke the other hip a few months ago. Still, Dora doesn’t take any medicine and can get around with a walker.

“I would say she’s pretty healthy,” Marilyn says.

“It’s amazing,” Marilyn adds of her mom’s longevity. “Who would have thought?”

She hopes those good genes pass on to her and her brother, plus Dora’s five grandchildren, seven great-grandchildren and one great-great-grandchild.

Dora owes part of that longevity to good genes. Her mom and dad lived into their 80s and her grandma lived to be 98.

The rest she owes to lifestyle.

“She never drove a car,” Marilyn says. “She walked to church, she walked to the store, she walked everywhere. She ate healthy. And she was never much of a drinker. A little wine. That went right to her head.”

Dressed in a navy suit with her white hair neatly styled, at her party Dora looks decades younger than 104. She thinks she is, too. She tells her family she’s 78. She’s become forgetful in recent years.

But she still has her humor, Nadia says.

“You can’t get mad at her,” she says.

Especially when she’s so eager to help. Dora sets the table for meals.

Dora also still has her breath.

After some prompting from Marilyn, she blows out all three of those candles.

“All right, 104!” says granddaughter-in-law Jackie Rainier.

Dora’s son son Ron Champoux also attended Tuesday’s party.

Dora’s relatives hope to celebrate birthday 105 with her. But for now they’re just enjoying 104.

After blowing out her candles, Dora wheels to the table with a piece of cake. A few minutes later her plate is clean.

“She always liked sweets,” Jackie says. “Still does.”