NAMPA — At her 106th birthday party, Edith Amaral of Nampa shared a moment with her 1-year-old great-granddaughter, Raya, by bonding over a ball.

“It’s always nice to see her play with the kids,” said Harley Newhart, Raya’s father and Edith’s grandson-in-law.

Indeed, Amaral’s numerous descendants made up the bulk of those who congregated Sunday in the commons of the building where she lives with her daughter, Chris Monroe. She is a mother of three, a grandmother of 12, a great-grandmother of 48 and a great-great-grandmother of six.

Amaral was born in El Centro, one of California’s southernmost cities, in 1920. She was the youngest of eight.

“In the desert,” she said, when asked what she remembered of her birthplace. “I was too little to care whether I was there or any other place.”

When she was 6, Amaral’s family relocated to Santa Barbara County. She lost her mother at the age of 13.

“At the time, it was the (Great) Depression, and they didn’t have a home, so they were living in a grove of trees,” her daughter, 78-year-old Susan Tucker of Utah, said. “All their furniture and their beds and everything was in the grove.”

She met her husband, Irving Amaral, when they were in the second grade, and the two began dating in high school.

During the Second World War, the young couple moved to Washington, as Irving was stationed at Fort Lewis. Amaral found employment at a peach cannery in nearby Olympia.

Later, Amaral worked as a secretary and ran a fabric shop in Atascadero, California, with her sister, Ruth — who also lived to be 106.

The rest of her siblings died in their 80s and 90s, while Irving died in his early 60s.

Amaral’s favorite movie star was Cary Grant. She attributes her longevity to a healthy diet, something undoubtedly influenced by her mother, who was a nutritionist.

Her daughters all recalled a childhood filled with camping, hiking and trips to the beach.

“She was a master gardener,” said granddaughter Cassidy Newhart.

After spending most of her life in the Golden State, Amaral came to Idaho at 99 and has lived with Monroe or her youngest daughter, Tracy Mathews of Eagle, ever since.

“It’s kind of wild. I have a grandma who’s 106. When my oldest was born, they were 100 years apart,” Cassidy Newhart said. “Longevity is strong.”