"We'll be the first limo coming down the street," laughed East Gibson Supt. Franzy Fleck Wednesday morning.

The first and only limo in Oakland City Wednesday carried birthday girl Helen Couts, who got her 103rd birthday wish for a cruise to some of her favorite places.

Her strawberry hair freshly coifed, she was indeed the guest of honor. The retired teacher got a huge send-off from her neighbors at her Newburgh retirement center as her limo embarked for the first stop of the day, Barton Elementary School.

The present-day school wasn't built when she taught in Mackey from 1942-44, but one piece of memorabilia was. An antique clock donated by the Mackey Class of 1939 is still keeping good time, same as Couts.

The caravan traveled north to Oakland City, where Couts taught from 1944-45. The long-time Oakland City resident said she'd like to stop at The Cozy Cove for a bite to eat during her birthday outing.

The Cozy Cove closed earlier this year, but when owner Charlotte Gray learned of the birthday wish, she re-opened the restaurant and baked up her customer's favorite dessert, pumpkin pie.

A small welcoming committee of former and current staff from Dr. Terry Gehlhausen's clinic dashed away from work and rearranged hair salon appointments to be on hand to meet one of their favorite patients. Gehlhausen sent word that Couts shouldn't leave town without stopping by the clinic to give him a hug.

She gave and got plenty of hugs from Gray, Fleck and others as she entered the restaurant sporting her red jacket, corsage and bright pink furry "Birthday Princess" pin.

"I feel so good about this," she beamed from her seat in the second booth at the window.

Fleck slid in next to her to offer a birthday gift. He dug into East Gibson archives and found her original personnel file, which detailed every school she taught at, beginning at age 21 in 1927 at Winslow High School.

She taught in Champaign, Ill., in 1929, moved south to teach in Grayville, Ill., in 1934, and came back to Mackey to teach in 1942. She last taught in East Gibson at Oakland City from 1944-45, earning $1,900 a year.

Couts absolutely beamed as Fleck read the framed record, then gave him a hug. "I'm so proud of that," she told him.

"I don't feel any older," she told the group, as Gray served up dessert. "I don't need coffee but I'll take pie," she said. "Everybody loved the Cozy Cove."

After having pie, the limo took Couts to Oakland City University, where she was to receive a surprise key to the city and be recognized as OCU's oldest living alumnus.

And before leaving town to have lunch at The Carousel Restaurant in Evansville, she had a date for a hug for the doctor.

Gray said long after Couts retired and moved to assisted living, she continued to make the drive north to eat at the Cozy Cove and visit her doctor.

"I'm so fortunate," Couts said. "Everything's worked out just wonderfully."