WILLIAMSTOWN — Alice Rollman lives in Williamstown, but she’ll always carry Adams with her.

As she prepares to turn 100 on Tuesday, after spending time in other Berkshire towns, Alice still treasures memories of her mother’s roast chicken with “the best stuffing I ever ate,” attending catechism and Mass at Notre Dame Church, and strolling through Adams in its heyday.

"Park Street had all the nice stores in it,” she recalled.

When she saw “Gone With the Wind” at the Adams Theater in 1940, the usher showed her and her date to their seats using a flashlight.

She also remembers the kindness of a Mrs. Kirby, her kindergarten teacher, who comforted her when she cried.

“I was quiet,” she said of her girlhood self.

And with a shy smile and her carefully thought-out words, she might still be described that way. Alice's hands are delicate, with carefully painted mauve nails.

Still, she's not without her preferences and opinions.

“We were better off years ago than we are today,” she said. “Because everybody’s got those phones in their hands.”

She’s not above scrolling her iPad, and she watches ABC’s “World News Tonight with David Muir” every night.

Alice was born in Adams at Plunkett Memorial Hospital on Dec. 23, 1925. She was the eldest of the three daughters of Alexina (Viens) and Alfred Bombardier.

When she was very young, the family lived on the second floor of a Pine Street duplex owned by the Trombleys, who lived below.

There she remembers slicing potatoes and putting them on the wood stove, which also heated the apartment.

“They got nice and brown, and we put butter on them,” she said.

She also remembers trying out a sled her father bought the three girls for Christmas to make sure it was long enough for her to ride.

“My mother had a Christmas tree, and we couldn’t go into that room because it was too cold,” she recalled.

The family eventually moved to Dean Street in a house next door to Allen Foundry, which her father owned. He made the manhole covers in Adams.

Adams native Alice Rollman as a young woman in an undated photo.

When she graduated from Adams Memorial High School in 1943 during World War II, “My girlfriend and I went to get a job. She went to Sprague. I went to [General Electric].”

Alice remembers finding her work interesting — inspecting capacitors to make sure they were correctly wired. It wasn’t long before she met Michael Tristany on the job in Pittsfield.

“He started talking to me, and before you know it, he asked me out,” Alice said.

The two married in 1944 at Notre Dame Church in Adams and held their reception at the Cartier Club on Dean Street where the two danced to “a little band.”

Alice bought her dress at Shea’s, where she had worked in the office tracking bills during high school. She also bought a black coat with a white fur collar, which she still owns, from Pizzi’s in North Adams.

The couple traveled by bus to New York City for their honeymoon, where the highlight was a surprise appearance by clarinetist and band leader Benny Goodman at a restaurant.

The couple had two children, Michele and Michael, but the marriage was cut short. Her husband developed stomach cancer and died at the age of 31 in 1956.

As a young widow, Alice brought her children home to Adams. They lived in a house on Dean Street next door to her parents, and she took a job as a waitress at The Fork and Spoon on Spring Street, owned by Theresa Marby, who became a friend.

Around that time, urban renewal efforts leveled the house Alice lived in with her children as well as her parents’ home.

“It was hard,” she said. She didn't elaborate. She then moved to a house on Lincoln Street and continued waitressing.

“It was a nice little restaurant,” she said. “We got to know everybody. They come in and we have a little cake for them when they had a birthday or something. It was like a little family restaurant.”

Adams native Alice Rollman and her late husband John who died in November of 2024. The two were married for 55 years.

Alice got to know John Rollman as a regular at the restaurant. He worked at the James River/Curtis Paper mill. The two married and bought a house on Catherine Street in North Adams. Their marriage lasted 55 years until John's death in 2024.

After both retired, they enjoyed traveling by bus to see Alice's favorite performer, Engelbert Humperdinck. A member of his fan club, she snagged his autograph in a restaurant parking lot.

“We were better off years ago than we are today,” Adams native Alice Rollman said. “Because everybody’s got those phones in their hands.” Rollman will be 100 years old on Tuesday.

Alice remembers fondly going to the North Adams Walmart for a cup of coffee with her husband and to the Country Charm in Cheshire with her sister, Dorothy Morgan.

The Rollmans also spent a lot of time at craft shows, where Alice sold her handsewn stuffed animals and other crafts.

A handsewn Christmas ornament of a kangaroo and joey made years ago by Adams native Alice Rollman.

She’s still got a few examples of her work, including a green stegosaurus and a kangaroo Christmas ornament, complete with a young joey peeking out of the pouch. Her parents had been crafters as well.

Today, Alice has slowed down a bit, partly from a stroke. A few years ago, she was given a fatal diagnosis and a six-month prognosis. She's outlived that and spends her days puttering about her Williamstown home.

Her daughter, Michele Tristany, smiles as she speaks of her mother and how well she did as a single mother raising two children.

“She cooked and cleaned and she did everything,” Tristany said.

Niece Sherry LaFleur, daughter of Alice's late sister, Irene LaFleur, said Alice was her favorite aunt and that she appreciates her determination.

“I always looked forward to her coming over to the house,” she said. “Maybe she was especially nice to me.”

Adams native Alice Rollman, who will be 100 years old on Tuesday, enjoys looking through old photographs. When asked what she would like for her birthday, she said “Oh I don’t know. I don’t need anything.”

To what does Alice owe her longevity?

“I don’t know,” she said. “I don’t drink or smoke or anything.”

Her daily routine reflects a strong sense of discipline.

She wakes at 8:30 a.m. and has the same breakfast every day: one slice of cinnamon swirl toast with peanut butter and jelly, two prunes and “a little bit of Cheerios with milk.” She washes that down with a cup of decaffeinated coffee with milk.

Every couple weeks, Deacon Bruce Ziter brings Communion to Alice and her daughter, Michele, with whom she now lives.

Lately, she’s been enjoying flipping through her photo albums with one of her aides, taking a walk down Memory Lane.

Alice celebrated her birthday on Sunday with family at her home in Williamstown.

What would Alice like?

“Oh I don’t know,” she said. “I don’t need anything.”