Their favorite television talk show host, Maury Povich, sent flowers. But the Mauss triplets didn't expect gifts from Johnny Carson when they gathered to celebrate their 91st birthday Wednesday.
After all, they shunned Carson's invitation to appear on "The Tonight Show" last year because "he's too silly."This comment was typical of the threesome - possibly the oldest living triplets in the world - who joke about being "womb mates" before they entered the world in 1900.
The Mauss triplets, Vinal Mauss, Vilda Hughes and Velma Torp, brought the century in - and they're determined to see it bow out.
"I think they really expect to live to be 100," said Peggy Eliason, Vinal Mauss' daughter. "He still buys green bananas, and his favorite saying is, `Growing old ain't for sissies.' "
Born in a small adobe home in Murray, the premature triplets - each weighing about 11/2 pounds - slept in their father's shoe box in a warming oven above the family's coal stove.
"That was our incubator," said Vinal, the first born. Vilda Hughes, born last - 20 minutes later - brags about being the one who made the family famous.
The third, fourth and fifth children in a family that eventually included nine children, the triplets have only one surviving sister, 85-year-old Ruby Stauffer. She joined Wednesday with other family members and friends Wednesday to celebrate the triplets' relative good health - and thrill for life.
"They don't ever sit and think about how old they are or how weak they ought to be. They are always thinking of other people," said Eliason, who regularly takes her dad to nursing homes so he can visit people "who don't have anybody."
"You can tell by looking at them that they have a zest for life."
And they share a binding love for each other.
Surrounded by reporters in Velma Torp's Midvale apartment, the triplets laughed at memorable moments: a 1912 trip to Saltair resort, when Vinal Mauss lost his hat on the streetcar, and the tricks the girls would play on their boyfriends, teachers and father, who could never tell them apart.
"One day we went into another room and started running in circles," said Vilda Hughes. "Our mother came in and asked us what we were doing, and we said, `We're mixing ourselves up so Daddy can't tell which one we are!' "
Vinal recalled the mischief they made at age 3 when they were put in a playpen on the porch. He got down on his hands and knees so his sisters could climb out of the pen, and then together they pulled him out.
The trickery has stopped "because we are too old," Vilda said. But, heaven forbid they'll ever be too old to argue - "mostly about what day it is or how old we are."
The three soon could be included in the Guinness Book of World Records for being the oldest living triplets. The Guinness record is 93 years old, set by the Caughling triplets, Faith, Hope and Charity, who died in 1962.
They say they'd like that but wouldn't be surprised by the recognition. Velma and Vilda credit healthy habits and living in Utah with its four seasons for their longevity.
"We're good Latter-day Saints," Vilda said. "Keep the Word of Wisdom, although I do have an occasional cup of coffee," she whispered.
Vinal, who lived in Utah only 31 years, gives more credit to "the man upstairs who has taken care of me."
Today Vilda and Velma live in apartments a block apart; Vilda alone and Velma, a bit hard of hearing, with a helper.
Their spouses are deceased, but among the three of them they have eight children, 36 grandchildren, 52 great-grandchildren and two great-great grandchildren - give or take a few.
Vinal lives in Walnut Creek east of San Francisco, where he still operates a newspaper distribution business. He hires newspaper delivery carriers - young folks who are starting their careers as he did.
As a youth, Vinal delivered the Deseret News between Midvale and Bingham. "Sometimes I'd ride a horse, sometimes my bicycle, sometimes a horse and buggy," he said.
Especially during their childhood, the triplets were the objects much publicity, once being on display at the 1907 Utah State Fair, where photographs of them sold for 25 cents. They've been in umpteen parades, and sometime this week they expect their picture to appear on Maury Povich's show.
While not shy toward publicity, the three wonder why they cause all this hoopla.
"We don't think we are anything special. But my grandchildren do," Vilda said.