DEL MAR — When you celebrate your 100th birthday, you can truthfully say you have been there, done that.

So it was with longtime village resident Alice Toohey on April 24. She expressed a desire on her birthday to visit the San Diego Zoo. The word got to Richard Wheelock Jr. of Vail, Colo., where he operates a couple of Mexican restaurants. He and Alice were buddies when he was a tyke just learning to walk. Like his dad, Dick Wheelock, Del Mar’s favorite retired doc, Richard likes to get things done without a lot of palaver.

He made arrangements for a Caddy SUV that was colorfully festooned with balloons and bunting to transport Alice to the zoo where a luncheon was held in her honor. And of course there was appropriate entertainment. Zoo handlers brought in small, friendly animals and the handlers described each of them to her.

Among the friends who were on hand was the Wheelock clan — mom, Mary; and daughters Michele Shafer of Jacksonville, Ore.; M’liss Defrancesco, Del Mar; and Theresa Sandefer, of Greenville, Texas and their husbands and children.

The Wheelocks and Alice were next-door neighbors in the 1950s when Alice and her husband vacationed in the village from Montana where they owned a large ranch. When they moved to Del Mar, Alice became active in the San Diego Zoological Society as well as the Country Friends that was in the process of being organized.

Needless to add. A great time was had by all. Particularly the guest of honor.