SPANISH FORT, Ala. — For more than one century, Ella Crane Guillot has let very little slow her down.

You see, the Lord has always taken care of the 1928 Stockton High School graduate and Westminster Village resident, who turned 104 Monday and only misses her morning exercises in the facility’s fitness center for the occasional doctor’s appointment.

In fact, she made the trek to Orlando for a great-great-nephew’s wedding in February, scoots about her two-bedroom apartment with ease — and only a little help from a great-niece who visits weekly to take care of her personal affairs — and parted with her Lincoln Town Car only five years ago.

“I’ve been active all my life, whether I was out in the garden or helping out at church. There’s always been something to keep me busy, and I’m grateful to God every day for that ability,” she said.

Guillot — a lifetime member of both the Eastern Star Chapter No. 42 in Stockton and Spanish Fort Presbyterian Church’s Women of the Church — says she should install a revolving door during her birthday season when nieces and nephews from five states drop by for visits.

The nearby sunroom boasts an array of family photos, chronicling a life spent with her husband of 58 years, the late Joseph Guillot, and the extended family tree that’s kept her busy.

One of 10 children, Guillot said she was actually born in Daphne, where her father owned about 100 acres on the site where Thomas Medical Center now sits. She was only 5 when her father died, and her mother sold the property to raise the family.

After high school, Guillot graduated from 20th Century Business College and worked in Mobile for several years, living with an aunt on Conception Street and riding the streetcar to work. She married in 1937, but saw her husband very infrequently because he worked for weeks at a time aboard a replenishment oiler off the coast of Houma, La., before joining U.S. Merchant Marines during World War II. While staring at a photo taken on their honeymoon in Texas, Guillot spoke softly and gratefully about his never having seen any direct military combat during his tours — and proudly of his attaining the rank of chief engineer, despite his formal eighth-grade education.

Although the couple never had children of their own, Guillot said they did take charge of one of her younger brothers’ three children, the youngest of which was newborn, after his wife contracted tuberculosis and spent one year in Montgomery and Mobile sanatoriums recuperating.

Her “angel,” however, is Angela Dorman, a great-niece who lives in Bay Minette but travels to the Spanish Fort retirement community each Monday after work to help sort through mail and take care of outstanding business.

“She’s a remarkable woman, who loves her family and serves her church faithfully,” said Dorman, who’s still working to arrange a five-generation family photo with her own children and 9-month-old grandchild.

“She’s an absolute inspiration. I only hope I have her genes. What else can you say about a woman who was 100 years old before she had shingles and broke a hip?” Dorman said.

Guillot said she actually considered moving into one of Westminster’s cottages in the early 1990s, but her husband enjoyed “roaming” around their yard and talking with their longtime neighbors.

He did tell her on several occasions, however, that he would make certain she never had to depend financially on anybody, and she said he kept his promise.

She does admit, though, that her independent streak means she’s a little less likely to take opinions — even those medical in nature — at face value.

Consider, for instance, her reaction a few years ago when she fell following a bout of dizziness and fractured her femur. The surgeon told her he couldn’t promise her he could fix the fracture because her hip was on the brink of shattering, but Guillot said she’d always had an active lifestyle and simply couldn’t imagine being bedridden for the rest of her days.

“I told him, ‘My family and church family have been praying so hard for me, but I’ve been praying for you, and I’ve asked the Lord to take your hands in his and guide them,’ and he bowed his head,” she said.

The surgery was a success, and Guillot said she never had any doubt.

Everybody, even gifted surgeons, can use a little help sometimes, she said.