Oldest living person in the US, from Texas, celebrates 115th birthday on Thursday
The oldest living person in the U.S. is celebrating another milestone — Texan Elizabeth Francis turns 115 years old on Thursday.
Houston resident Elizabeth Francis was born in Louisiana on July 25, 1909. After the death of a 116-year-old California woman in February, Francis became the oldest living person in the country at age 114, according to LongeviQuest, a nonprofit that tracks human longevity around the globe. She is now the fourth-oldest living person in the world and also the fourth supercentenarian — a person who lives to be 110 years old.
It may be remarkable to others, especially younger generations, to realize a single person has lived long enough to see the end of Jim Crow laws, the signing of the Civil Rights Act into law, the assassination of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., the fall of the Soviet Union and the election of the first Black president.
The secret to a long — and happy — life
After her mother's death, Francis and her five siblings were separated and sent to different homes. Francis moved from Louisiana to Houston to live with her aunt.
She gave birth to her only daughter, Dorothy Williams, in 1928, whom she raised as a single mother, operating a coffee shop at ABC 13 News in Houston to support herself and her daughter. She ran the place for almost 20 years, retiring in 1975. In 1999, she moved in with her daughter.
One of her granddaughters, Ethel Harrison, is her primary caregiver and allows Francis to be the second-oldest person in the world to live at home, LongeviQuest reports. Harrison says her grandmother has offered valuable life advice over the years.
“Treat people like you want to be treated,” she said.
Harrison also said Francis was a woman of routine. She never learned how to drive, so she often took the bus and she liked to walk. She also grew her own vegetables, and she doesn't smoke or drink aside from the occassional glass of wine. According to The Washington Post, Harrison said her grandmother’s lifestyle is a major part of her longevity.
“Her life was always pretty simple: early to bed, early to rise, work hard, then come home and make a nutritious meal and be with family,” she said.
And it seems her family does, in fact, offer literal life-giving love. Francis' older sister, Bertha Johnson, lived to the age of 106 before passing away in 2011. Longevity said the two were "one of the oldest sibling pairs."
Francis had to start using a wheelchair at 108 years old. When asked by a media member how old she is, she joked, “I’m very, very young. Look at me! I’m like a little young chicken.”
Francis credits her longevity to her faith in God.
“If the Good Lord gave it to you, use it! Speak your mind, don’t hold your tongue," Francis told LongeviQuest when asked about the secret behind her long life.
— USA TODAY contributed to this report.
This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Oldest living person in the US celebrates her 115th birthday in Texas
