OAKES (AP) - Lillie Ratzlaff's stubbornness may have been the secret to her long life.

"She never took 'no' for an answer," said her son, Ervin Hurlbert. "She was a very strong-headed woman."

Ratzlaff, believed to be the oldest living North Dakotan, died Saturday. She was 109 years and six months old. Ratzlaff was born Oct. 8, 1896, near Hecla, S.D. She had lived in the Oakes Good Samaritan Center since 1999.

Aside from her son, she is survived by six grandchildren, nine great-grandchildren and 11 great-great-grandchildren. A daughter, Agnes Lanpher, and two husbands preceded her in death.

Kacy Lanphere-Walker of Aberdeen, S.D., remembers teasing her great-grandmother about her healing methods. When she felt ill, Ratzlaff would drink cod liver oil and kerosene. Lanphere-Walker also recalls her great-grandmother wrapping a kerosene-dipped towel around her neck to cure ailments.

"We would tell her 'Grandma, you're flammable,'" she said. "She was a real spitfire."

Hurlbert said Ratzlaff fought her move to the nursing home as she approached 103. She had lived in her own apartment in Hecla until relocating in 1999, said Hurlbert, 85, of Ravalli, Mont.

"She thought she could take care of herself then," he said. "It broke her heart when she left that apartment."

Jerome Swanson, the nursing home's administrator, said Ratzlaff was still a part of the nursing home's community, even in her advanced age."She was upright in her chair - even yesterday when I saw her last," he said. "She went to the dining room for meals and moved around in the facility."

Swanson said Ratzlaff's recent health had been fine, considering her age, and her family had recently visited her in the nursing home.

Hurlbert, who visited his mother every couple of years, said he planned a trip to Oakes this year, but "she beat me to it."

Her son remembers the difficulty she had identifying him and his wife two years ago, the last time he saw his mother.

"It took a couple of hours for her to remember me, her son," he said.

"I feel like this is a relief for her. She wanted to go, but her body wouldn't let her go," Hurlbert said. "She could finally rest, and I could have some peace."