By BILL BENGTSON

Staff Writer

She's witnessed more than a few changes over the years -- not much of a surprise, since Margaret Wilhelm was born at a time when William Taft was in the White House, the NAACP was in its first year of operation, a first-class stamp cost two cents and the year's federal spending totaled $690 million.

Her 100th birthday was Tuesday.

A native of Shelby, N.C., she was the oldest of five children and came to North Augusta in 1943 with her husband, Bill Wilhelm, a dry-goods salesman whose traveling days ended in 1957, leading to a position running the men's department at Belk.

The lady of the house was a substitute teacher, serving Langley, Bath and North Augusta in whatever classroom topics might have a need, filling in from the '60s to the early '70s.

"I had been a grammar-school teacher," she recalled. "I had taught fourth grade, but I didn't teach after I was married, except substitute."

When asked about the job's best aspect, she said, "The children. I loved the children."

The children of her days in local schools, she recalled, included Paul Crenshaw, who is now a plumber residing on Lake Avenue; and Shoreline Drive resident Steve Kendrick, owner of Kendrick Paint and Body.

On the home front, starting in the early '40s, she first met with seven neighbors at the home of Mary Jane Hamilton, on East Avenue, and formed what they would call the Tuesday Night Bridge Club and, later, the Golden Girls Bridge Club.

The other six charter members are listed as Edith Barden, Lucille Howell, Mary Mathis, Alice Reeves, Gladys Timmerman and Mary Anna Youngblood.

Over the years, the membership list came to include the likes of Thelma Avant, Edith Duke, Lillian Huff, Florrie Koffard, Dot Outzs, Doris Prontaut, Elizabeth Rosson, Martha Scheuler, Lona Simril, Virginia Smart, Louise Smith, Mary Templeton and Margaret Weeks.

The club still meets, but bridge is no longer an option for the neighborhood centenarian, due to macular degeneration.

That same ailment has also taken her away from gardening and reading -- other favorite pursuits.

She is, however, still out and around on a daily basis. "I take a walk every day. I walk not the whole block, but I walk most of the block," she said. "I have always had good neighbors."

She also appears to have good genetics, as one of her grandfathers, a North Augusta resident, lived to age 99. Wilhelm's local family tree includes her daughter, Margaret Freyermuth.

Recalling her mom's roles, Freyermuth noted that the nighttime ladies' group at Grace United Methodist Church, originally called the Wesleyan Service Guild, eventually became known as the Knox-Wilhelm Circle, "in honor of Mrs. Paul Knox and Mother."

Freyermuth noted that Wilhelm was also a Girl Scout leader in the '40s and '50s, and that six of the girls in her group achieved the Curved Bar Award, which was the highest honor a Girl Scout could reach in those years.