Thelma Luce Baird, formerly of Woodside Village in Oak Bluffs, died Jan. 22 in Windemere Nursing Home.

She recently celebrated her 100th birthday at Windemere on Jan. 8 with many friends and relatives in attendance. It was a wonderful event during which she entertained and greeted everyone by name.

She was born in Edgartown in 1908, the daughter of Harry C. Luce and Irene Mayhew Luce.

Thelma spent her early years on her father’s dairy farm, which today is Farm Neck Golf Course. As a young adult, she loved ballroom dancing and was a prize-winning dancer at the Tivoli Dance Hall.

She and her husband Raymond Baird lived in Providence for many years, where he worked for the Sealtest Ice Cream Company. They used to take long Sunday drives and thought nothing of spending several hours on the road to visit their niece Betsy during her four years at Stonehill College.

After her husband died, she moved back to the Island to be close to her family: her sisters Kay Sullivan, Ida Fibeich Karl, Phyllis Clark Smith and Chrystal Klinginsmith Prada and her brothers, Ham, Russell and Clyde Luce, all of whom predeceased her.

She delighted in children and spent many moments looking after other people’s children. She was “Aunt Thelma” to many.

Thelma was well-read and an entertaining conversationalist with a wicked sense of humor. She was also an artist, creating numerous sketches and paintings. The chef at Windemere was a frequent recipient of her humorous drawings and critiques of his meals. She was appreciated and loved by the staff at Windemere staff and the Anchors in Edgartown, and this affection was reciprocated.

Thelma loved good food and her snacks of chocolate, potato chips, popcorn and candy. She had a very independent spirit. Every day, prior to her residence in Windemere, she took herself off to Linda Jean’s for lunch after calling her favorite taximan for her special fare.

Survivors include many nieces and nephews including her caregivers, Lorraine and Richard Clark and Dory Clark; many grandnieces and grandnephews; and great-grandnieces and great-grandnephews.

A graveside service will be held today, Friday, Jan. 25, in Oak Grove Cemetery, Vineyard Haven at 11 a.m. Donations may be made in her memory to Windemere Nursing Home, P.O. Box 1477, Oak Bluffs MA 02557 or to the Anchors at Edgartown Council on Aging, P.O. Box 1295, Edgartown MA 02539.