Vernie C. Randall, a lively centenarian who enjoyed reading and following presidential politics, died Monday of complications from a stroke at the Fairhaven Retirement Community in Sykesville. She was 104.

"She was a marvelous and most friendly person. When she entered the dining room, everyone waved. It was like the queen was arriving," said the Rt. Rev. David W. Leighton, the retired Episcopal bishop of Maryland.

"Everyone loved to go and see Vernie because she was so joyful and alive," he said. "She could talk a blue streak about politics and a lot of other things, and the way she talked, you would have thought she was 80."

Bishop Leighton said that Mrs. Randall nearly died two years ago and was given last rites. "She came back and lived two more years and was remarkably intellectual until the end," he said.

Vernie Carolina Theden was born and raised in Bonner Springs, Kan., a small farming community.

"Her Swedish-born mother and German-born father had a farm where modest prosperity was evidenced by running water and electricity," said Joseph R.L. Sterne, former editorial page editor of The Sun and a longtime friend.

Mrs. Randall studied at Kansas State University and switched to a business school where she learned shorthand and typing.

She was also an accomplished pianist and professional whistler.

"During World War I, she whistled to entertain recruits on their way to French battlefields," Mr. Sterne said.

Her son, Dr. Harry G. Randall, a Baltimore ophthalmologist, said his mother used to improvise pieces on the piano, which she accompanied with a whistled harmony.

In 1929, she married Dr. Clyde L. Randall, an obstetrician and gynecologist, and childhood friend.

"She said she had loved him since she was 11 years old," her son said. "My father said he had to leave Kansas City after he married her because he didn't want to be known as Whistler's Husband."

The couple settled in Buffalo, N.Y., where he was a vice president and professor at the State University of New York for nearly 40 years.

They moved to Baltimore in 1975, when Dr. Randall became director of education for the Johns Hopkins International Program in Education on Obstetrics and Gynecology.

Dr. Randall, who had been president of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, died in 1990.

The couple, who had lived at 3900 North Charles Street Apartments and later in Cockeysville, moved to the Sykesville retirement community in 1990. At her death, she was Fairhaven's oldest resident.

"She was a woman who cut quite a figure in her slimness, erect bearing, beautiful clothes, and neatly coiffed white hair," said Mr. Sterne, now a senior fellow at the Johns Hopkins Institute for Policy Studies.

When she celebrated her 100th birthday, Mrs. Randall said in an oral family history, "I don't feel any different," and added, "I have had a very happy life and I'm grateful."

A great lover of history and politics, Mrs. Randall began her second century of life by "launching into the history of the American Revolution and what came after it," Mr. Sterne said.

Mrs. Randall quickly devoured biographies of George Washington, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson and many others. Her son recalled her reading a history of the Roman Empire when she was in her 80s, and discovering her carefully written notes, which helped her keep the names of the historical figures straight.

Mrs. Randall was closely following this year's presidential primaries and debates.

"She was originally smitten with Hillary and then got cool on her, and she didn't think Obama was experienced enough," Mr. Sterne said.

Mrs. Randall's Republican sensibilities then took over.

"She said, 'I'm a Republican, and everyone in Kansas is a Republican. I better stick with the Republican Party and McCain. Now I'm going to sit back and enjoy the show,'" Mr. Sterne said.

Dr. Randall said his mother had recently expressed the opinion she hoped she lived long enough to see "what happens."

Mrs. Randall, who did not smoke, followed no particular physical regimen.

"She was very fond of her bourbon and ginger ale and Old-Fashioneds. When we were having dinner recently at Fairhaven, the waitress asked if she wanted a cocktail, and she ordered a bourbon," her son said. "Diners at a nearby table hearing this said, 'Good for you, Vernie. After all, you are 104.'"

Mrs. Randall was dining with her daughter and son-in-law Friday evening when she suddenly began to feel cold.

"It was the beginning of the stroke, and an hour later she couldn't recognize my sister," her son said.

Mrs. Randall was a member of Brown Memorial Presbyterian Church in Woodbrook.

Plans for a memorial service to be held in late April at Fairhaven were incomplete yesterday.

Also surviving are a daughter, Ruth Ann James of Chapel Hill, N.C.; four grandchildren; and eight great-grandchildren.

fred.rasmussen@baltsun.com