The oldest woman in America who has over 200 great-grandchildren recently celebrated her 116th birthday. Hester Ford was born in 1904 in Lancaster County, South Carolina, and has not only lived through two world wars and two pandemics but has experienced many other major milestones in her years. Her continued good health is a blessing to the family and friends who love her.
The oldest living American was born on this day in ~1904 in Lancaster County, South Carolina and turned 116 today. Happy Birthday to our mother, Miss Hester Ford 🎈 pic.twitter.com/LK3v3yW7Lj
— ment nelson (@mentnelson) August 15, 2020
- Being the oldest woman in America is quite an honor. There is some discrepancy when it comes to her official age, as according to the Charlotte Observer, the US Census Bureau says she was born in 1905 while a separate set of documents from the same department says 1904. Either way, as of July 30, 2020, she is officially the oldest woman in the US.
- She has such a massive family! In addition to her 12 children, Hester Ford also has 68 grandchildren, 125 great-grandchildren, and 120 great-great-grandchildren. How incredible is that! If that’s not a lasting legacy, I don’t know what is.
- Her 116th birthday (or 115th, either way!) was a wonderful celebration. Well-wishers drove by the house to wave at Hester, leaving presents at the end of the driveway so that other Ford family members could come and collect them to bring them into Hester later in the day. Her family also made her a special banner and tiara to wear on her big day.
- Hester Ford is in extremely good health. In fact, she never even needed hospital treatment until she turned 108 and until the pandemic took hold, she was even still going out to church every week. Just goes to show that age really isn’t anything but a number.
- So what’s her secret? Reaching 116 is no small feat, but when Hester asked how she got this far, she simply replied, “I just live right, that’s all.” Perhaps it’s very much luck of the draw, but either way, it’s an incredible achievement and a very lucky thing to experience so much history in a single lifetime.
Happy Birthday 😘 #HesterFord 💕 pic.twitter.com/i5HaGtxbKN
— JessicaNicole 💎 (@jess_nicolesss) August 16, 2020
