Helen Rizzo has seen a lot in her 100 years and she takes it all in stride.

"In life, if you can't change it, you accept it and you don't hold a grudge."That's Helen's philosophy.Diagnosed at 30 with cardiomyopathy, Helen took her doctor's advice and learned how to take it easy and not sweat the small stuff."My doctor told me that if I took care of myself and followed his advice I would outlive him, and he was right," she says with a sparkle in her eyes.Helen was born March 21, 1914, to Luigi and Pasqualena Barbone, and raised in Norristown.She was married to Daniel Rizzo for 48 years, during which time she raised two children. He passed away 30 years ago.Her son Carmen and his wife, Susan, still live in the Norristown area.Helen lives with her daughter, Marian and her husband, Robert Shuler, in Penn Forest Township.A seamstress by trade, Helen worked for many years at the Hickey Freeman Menswear factory in Norristown.While employed there, she made 13 suits for President Richard Nixon."I didn't have an opportunity for a good education so I did what I could to make sure both my children went to college,"she said.Helen came from a family of 11 children. She has only her younger sister, Susan Gaasche, who is 86, remaining.She has five grandchildren: Stephen Fretz, Laurel Toshack, Elizabeth Barr, Jennifer Myers and Thomas Rizzo; and eight great-grandchildren: Tyler, Justin, Erin, Kenneth, Matthew, Benjamin, Edward and Eliot.She has one great-great-grandchild named Lucas.Gifts for Helen's birthday began arriving as early as two weeks ago.A devout Catholic, she received a handmade prayer shawl from her home parish of St. Francis of Assisi in Norristown.Friends and family from as far away as California are coming into town to help Helen celebrate her big day.A party for more than 200 guests is planned for this weekend at the Whispering Pines Hall at the Penn Forest 1 Fire Company.