A Texas woman has become the oldest living person in the U.S. after turning 115 on Thursday, celebrating the special day with her 94-year-old daughter.
Elizabeth Francis was born on July 25, 1909, in St. Mary Parish, Louisiana, during the presidency of William Howard Taft, CNN reported.
As a black American woman, Francis lived before the Civil Rights Movement, the Nineteenth Amendment — granting women the right to vote — both World Wars, and the Moon landing.
On her last birthday, a film crew from Norway and a researcher from Florida visited the supercentenarian to learn her secret to longevity.
When asked, “How does it feel to be 114 years old?” Francis said, “I don’t know, I just thank the good Lord for keeping me.”
According to her daughter, Dorothy Williams, people immediately react when she tells them her mother’s age.
“They don’t say you’re crazy, they just say you’re lying,” Williams told ABC13 — a studio where Francis worked in a coffee shop in the 1970s.
“It’s hard to believe, but it’s a blessing.” the 94-year-old added. “Because she has been a wonderful mother and grandmother to all of us. She has been our backbone.”
Francis’s 69-year-old granddaughter and caregiver, Ethel Harrison, believes her long life can be attributed to a healthy lifestyle.
“She always grew her vegetables in the backyard. I never saw her go to a fast food restaurant much as like Chick-fil-A and all the places I liked to go. She never did that,” Harrison told the outlet.
“Whenever you went to her house, I don’t care what day of the week, she was cooking. So, I just think that had a lot to do with it, too,” she explained. “Just how she took care of her body and things like that.”
Francis has two other grandchildren, five great-grandchildren, and four great-great-grandchildren.
It also might be genetic; Francis’s sister lived to be an impressive 106 years old, making them among the oldest siblings on record.
“I think generosity, being generous,” Harrison said. “Treating people like you want to be treated, even though sometimes it might not be reciprocated, but that’s not the way God wants you to do. He wants you to be generous and kind.”
According to Francis, her faith in God has kept her going.
“This is a blessing, the Lord’s blessing,” she said after turning 114 in 2023.
She also does not smoke or drink outside of the occasional glass of wine, USA Today reported.
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