INGLEWOOD, Calif. — When asked what has kept her as well as her two sisters alive for at least 100 years, Daisy Simmons, 104, simply says: “The Lord has sustained us.”

Simmons, wheelchair bound, then found her place at a long dining table in a banquet room at the Airport Marriott Hotel to hear her sisters, 101-year-old Earlis Vickers and 100-year-old Eddie McCook sing, to a filled-to-capacity audience, “I Really Love The Lord.”

“To hear them sing, I couldn’t stop crying. The tears just couldn’t stop,” said Janice Cook, a longtime friend.  “I just love them so much.”

And although the sisters were not much for talking either during or after the Centennial Celebrations put on last month by their church, Second Mt. Nebo Missionary Baptist, more than enough people spoke of their accomplishment -- even if it won’t be in the Guinness Book of World Records anytime soon.

On McCook's March 2 birthday, she, Simmons and Vickers became the first three sisters ever to all at least be 100 years old, Cook said. They simply missed the deadline to file this feat with the good people at Guiness.

“It’s going to happen next time. We couldn’t get them in this time,” said Cook, who has known the sisters for more than 30 years. “And all three of them are still in their right mind, their right health. Like my granddaughter says, ‘They’re off the chain.’”

Extending well past the scheduled time of three hours, the afternoon festivities included family members offering up emotional and reflective tales of the centenarians. Officials in attendance included Inglewood Mayor Roosevelt Dorn, a representative from Supervisor Yvonne Braithwaite Burke’s office and Councilman Ralph Franklin.

“All of them are very quiet. All of them are active in church, and that’s about the only thing they do," said the Rev W. James Glenn, pastor at Second Mt. Nebo Missionary Baptist. "They are at choir rehearsal every Tuesday, and they sing in the choir every Sunday. They go wherever the church goes. I introduce them to people, and [the people] have a fit.”

Commendations for the women came from Langston University in Langston, Okla. where Simmons is the oldest living graduate; President George W. Bush, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, Rep. Diane Watson and senators John Kerry and Barack Obama.

“[The sisters] are centenarians in a class all by themselves,” said the Rev. Lester Mosley, one of the guest speakers at the celebration. “They’ve been blessed with mankind’s most treasured gift: The gift of life. Longevity is in the hands of the Lord.”

According to Glenn, the sisters -- whose maiden name is Harris -- were born in Luther, Oklahoma before moving to Oklahoma City. They were preceded in death by two brothers: Sherman, who died at 70, and Roosevelt, who lived to be 96.

Before retiring, Simmons and Vickers were school teachers, while McCook was a seamstress and a homemaker.

“They all say their faith in God has kept them. They live a quiet life,” Glenn said.  “Daisy said she always kept out trouble, never hanging around people who drank and things like that.”

And when asked the obvious question -- what is the key to living so long? -- Cook said, the sisters note that they grew up eating plenty of vegetables.

“And they’ll tell you quick: They eat what they want to eat,” she said. “Every night before they go to bed, they like vanilla ice cream.”