HOULTON – She was born one month before the first trolley bus became operational in New York City.

Twenty-seven years later, she read about Charles Lindbergh becoming the first person to fly solo nonstop across the Atlantic Ocean, witnessed televisions become commonplace in homes in the United States in the 1950s, and saw infrastructure around the world continue running when the millennium bug failed to cripple technology in 2000.

Lala (pronounced lay-la) “Ducky” Adams saw a lot in 106 years, and was on the verge of witnessing another spring restore Aroostook County to life when her own life recently ended.

Adams, who was the oldest living resident of Houlton, died March 19 after a brief illness at Houlton Regional Hospital.

Her age and vitality stupefied many and prompted her to grant two interviews with the Bangor Daily News on birthdays during her lifetime.

Known as “Ducky” to her friends, Adams was born in Eel River, New Brunswick, on Dec. 9, 1899. Her parents and nine siblings came to Houlton when she was in grammar school. After graduating from Houlton High School, she moved to Manchester, N.H, where she married and had a daughter.

She remained in New Hampshire until 1970 and then returned to Maine.

She stopped working as a nurse after settling in Houlton and married a second time. Her only daughter predeceased her in 2003.

As she got older, she needed some assistance with household chores, but was otherwise active both in and outside of her home.

Adams decided to quit driving when she turned 103, a decision that was entirely her own.

“It was not because I was pulled over by the police or had an accident,” she insisted during an interview in her Drake’s Hill home in 2004. “I just stopped driving.”

At 105, she still didn’t need a hearing aid, and her eyeglasses sat unused on a table-board most of the time.

Adams sat for her second interview with the BDN just before her 105th birthday in 2004, accompanied by her sister-in-law and her staunch companion – a more than 30-year-old parrot named Polly.

The massive bird swooped around the living room of her home, sat at her feet and called Adams by name during the interview.

Adams maintained at the time that she was grateful for all she had, especially her memories of the past.

And how did she stay so healthy?

“I mind my own business,” she said in 2004.

Adams turned 106 last December.

At her request, there will be no funeral service, but a memorial service will be held later in the spring.