When you've had a hand in building 13 restaurants, dozens of commercial properties, numerous rental properties, two retirement complexes and a motel, you've earned the right to take it easy at 80.

But Burien businesswoman Viola Mae Steinman stays busy helping run and garden around Boulevard Park Place, an active north Burien retirement community she and her late husband, Merle Steinman, built in 1996.

They got her to stop working long enough on Feb. 3 to celebrate her 80th birthday along with 200 friends at Boulevard Park Place, which she still owns.

Vi has been active in the Burien community for 40 years. Among the commercial building she and Merle built are the Des Moines Police Department headquarters and the Arlington Courthouse.

She's the mother of four children and three grandchildren. Vi is the matriarch of four generations, who are still involved in the family businesses in varying capacities. Her parents were Norwegian immigrants.

The busy woman also travels extensively with friends and fellow members of the Elks and Emblem clubs to which she has belonged for 50 years.

Still going strong and leading by hard-working example, Vi says she may retire in another five years----unless another intriguing construction project comes along.