Dorothy Morris tried retiring once. That was 30 years ago.

At 85, she puts in three days a week at the Ken Blanchard Companies in Escondido, where she is an administrative assistant in the travel department.

"I don't feel 85," said Morris, whose most recent birthday was July 29. "I can't believe I'm 85. But you know, it makes a difference when you work with young people."

Morris lives in Escondido in a mobile-home park for seniors, and said she believes that if she were around only older people all day, she would feel older, too.

"I think it keeps me healthy," she said about going to work three days a week. "And if you're working, your mind is on your work and not on yourself."

Morris came to the Ken Blanchard Companies in 1984, entering the work force at an age when many people are retiring.

"People are healthier longer, and they're more able to be active," she said, shrugging off the notion that there's anything special about working at her age. "It used to be a big thing if people were married 50 years. Now, it's no big thing. People are together 60 years."

Morris had two parents and two sisters who died of cancer, and she smoked until 1973, only stopping when her husband had to quit because of a heart problem. She has a glass of wine every night and says she has no secrets for longevity.

"As I was growing up, they didn't think that much about food and didn't read anything on the boxes, like you do now," she said.

Born in Duluth, Minn., Morris attended Young and Hursh Business College and then went to work at a state legislator's office. After a while, she found another job at Standard Accent Insurance, where she earned $90 a month.

"It was about 1937," she said. "We were still in a depression. It was hard to get a job, but my sister worked there."

She met Rollin Morris when the two worked at Lockheed, and they married in 1943.

"When I started working at Lockheed, they hired anybody," she said. "They used to kid that if you felt warm while walking by, they hired you."

Morris was an office worker at a time when that job was a lot more grimy than today.

"Ditto paper was horrible," she said, remembering coming home covered with purple dust from scraping off mistakes. "All the desks had it on them. It was all over. But the thing to do was be sharp enough not to make mistakes."

Lockheed transferred her husband several times, and Morris found work in school districts at each new town. Finally the couple retired in 1973 and settled in Bullhead City, Ariz.

"After a while, the heat and the wind got us," she said. In 1981 they moved to Escondido, and Morris joined Kelly Girl, which sent to her Ken Blanchard in 1984.

"I've worked in about every department in this company," Morris said. Eventually she found a place in the travel department, helping make arrangements for employees who fly around the world for the international company.

A widow for 17 years, Morris follows the Padres and her favorite TV shows, attends church on Sundays and occasionally drives to Valley View Casino for some gaming. The regular poker game at the mobile-home park finally broke up after too many members either died or moved in with their families, she said.

"You've not going to win every time, but it's just fun," she said about gambling at the casino.

Although Morris has no intention of retiring anytime soon, she is conscious of how aging may affect her work.

"I think I have to watch what I'm doing very carefully to make sure I get the right ticket numbers on the invoice," she said, stressing how people depend on her to be accurate.

If she ever does retire for good, Morris said she might volunteer somewhere just to get out of the house. She knows that day will come someday, as Blanchard himself has told her.

"Ken said I could only work until I was 102," she said.

Contact staff writer Gary Warth at gwarth@nctimes.com or (760) 740-5410.