Many people retire after working for 40 years.

But few of them are 100 years old when they make that decision.Elsie Rita, a cafeteria worker for Tamaqua Area School District, has retired effective Sept. 15. The district had a luncheon for her in October, and she was feted earlier in the year, in March, in honor of her 100th birthday.For the past 40 years, Rita had worked in the Tamaqua middle and high school cafeteria. She also volunteered at St. Luke's Hospital-Miners Campus in Coaldale, where she often led other seniors many decades younger than she in daily exercises. She traveled back and forth to the hospital by bus.Rita was born March 13, 1914, in Lansford and was married 49 years to the late Joseph Rita. She has three children, Joseph Rita, Nevada; Pat Rita, New Hampshire; and Rita Nepenic, Tamaqua; eight grandchildren; and great-grandchildren.Asked at her birthday party how to achieve longevity, Rita gave her philosophy for life."One enemy is too many," Rita said. "Pray a little every day, and make somebody smile."