A North Carolina great-great-grandmother who is believed to be the oldest person in the United States celebrated a birthday over the weekend.
Hester Ford has been alive longer than any American but no one is sure of her exact age, according to WBTV Charlotte. She is 115 or 116, according to two different documents from the Census bureau. Nonetheless, her family is celebrating an extraordinary milestone. Her position as the oldest living American was verified by the Gerontology Research Group.
When asked about her secret to longevity, Ford had a simple answer.
“I just live right, all I know,” the longtime Charlotte resident said.
“We just thank God for just keeping her here for us, because it gives us hope,” Mary Hill, her granddaughter, told WBTV. “We would never want her to be here if she was sick. … We want her to have a great quality of life in her elder years. We don’t want her to be sick or anything and trying to hold on.”
She added, “We’re just a blessed family.”
Thankfully, Ford is in relatively good health. Her first hospital stay did not come until she was 108. Until then, she lived alone until a fall left her with bruised ribs. Now she lives with two of her daughters.
The centenarian is still able to walk short distances and eat on her own. A devout Christian, she can recite the 23rd Psalm from memory without any mistakes.
Her family celebrated her birthday by hosting a drive-by party where loved ones could ride by, honk their horn and leave gifts at the end of the driveway.
The oldest living person in the world reportedly is Kane Tanaka of Japan, who will turn 118 in January. Alelia Murphy, another Black woman from North Carolina, was the oldest living American until her death in New York in November 2019.
