There Were a Lot of Candles on Her Cake

She's the oldest woman in America. Her name is Hester Ford, and she's 116!

The UK's Daily Mail reported Hester Ford, from Charlotte, North Carolina, just  celebrated her 116th birthday with some of her loved ones around her this past Saturday, and what an event it was.

The mother-of-12 is believed to be the oldest person to live in the US, and joins the very select club of supercentenarians around the world who are 110 or older.

The amazing thing is that with her 12 children, she has 48 grandchildren, and 200 great-grandchildren! Wowzer!!

Wikipedia says the oldest person ever in the world whose age has been independently verified is Jeanne Calment (1875–1997) of France, who lived to the age of 122 years, 164 days. The oldest verified man ever is Jiroemon Kimura (1897–2013) of Japan, who lived to the age of 116 years, 54 days.

As of yesterday, August 17, 2020, the oldest known living person is Kane Tanaka of Japan, aged 117 years, 228 days. The oldest known living man is Saturnino de la Fuente, of Spain, aged 111 years, 191 days. The 100 oldest women have, on average, lived several years longer than the 100 oldest men.

Hester marked her big event a bit early with a drive-thru birthday party with some of her family members on Thursday ahead of her actual birthday, which fell on Saturday.

Hester, who was born in South Carolina before the First World War in 1904 has become a celebrity in Charlotte, where she's lived for the past 59 years.

She is so well-known in her community that Charlotte's mayor, Vi Lyles, declared August 15th ‘Mother Hester Ford Day’, in honour of her birthday.