RAWLINS -- The winter Natividad "Nattie" Campos came to Rawlins was cold, hard and long.

So cold the sheep died.

So hard the cattle perished.

So long the store shelves were nearly empty, said Nattie's daughter Lucy Medina, 80, of Rawlins.

When Campos came to Rawlins in the fall of 1947, she hadn't planned to stay. She and her family had traveled from New Mexico, helping a relative move to town. When winter set in, Campos and the family members decided to wait it out, Medina said.

Campos had weathered personal loss and harsh living conditions, her family members said Sunday.

It would take more than a hard winter to drive Campos back south that year.

Fast-forward 62 years.

Campos turned 100 years old this month, and her family and friends gathered recently at the Rawlins home of her son-in-law, Max Archuleta, to celebrate. A crush of people ranging in age from children to seniors filled the backyard. And in the middle sat Campos, a single white-and-scarlet petunia fastened in her nearly white bun.

She smiled often but said little, and she looked small in the large, wooden chair on which she sat. When you shook her hand, you could feel her delicate bones through her skin, which had turned soft and papery with age.

But when family members spoke about Campos, they described a strong woman with a mind of her own.

Her daily morning routine includes frying a piece of bacon, then cooking some potatoes and adding an egg and real butter, said Campos' granddaughter Dora Flagg, 52, of Riverton.

"She likes to cook everything in bacon grease," Flagg added.

Family members and friends -- some who had traveled from Campos' home state -- spoke of her hospitality and her concern for her family.

"Nobody ever left her house hungry," Medina said. "She would always feed everybody."

Campos' son, Sam Campos, 59, of Rawlins, described his mother as someone who could also be firm.

He said he doesn't remember what he did to frustrate his mother one day when he was a child. But he does remember locking himself in the bathroom shortly afterward.

The bathroom door didn't stop her. She pushed a broom handle right through it in an attempt to get at Sam, he said.

He laughed as he told the story.

"She was real tough," he said.

Then again, Campos had experienced family loss. She has been widowed twice and three of her five brothers died in World War II, family members said.

Her living conditions in New Mexico also were harsh.

"We had outhouses and no running water," Medina said.

"She was a very tough woman," Medina added. "She still is tough."

But, as two of her great-grandsons began playing "Happy Birthday" on guitar and saxophone, Campos' face softened into a smile, while family and friends began singing -- softly at first, and then louder.

Campos' fortitude stands clear in the minds of her friends and family. Still, Campos also has another side.

"She was always caring about us," Sam Campos said. "She was always really worried about her family."