Bessie Hendricks, a resident of Lake City, Iowa has officially become the oldest person in the United States after celebrating her 115th! birthday on Monday, November 7.
According to reports, Bessie, born all the way back in 1907, has lived through a whopping 21 presidents, two World Wars, the sinking of the Titanic, man landing on the moon, and just about anything else that’s happened in the living memory of any human on Earth.
Bessie celebrated her latest milestone of turning 115 with a small gathering of her children, the oldest of whom is 90 herself!
Joan Schaffer, Bessie’s oldest, celebrated her own birthday on Sunday, November 6.
“I don’t know how you put it into words,” Joan said of her mom’s big day. “It’s marvelous that we still have her.”
Joan also explained how Bessie was forced to take on an enormous responsibility while still a young girl.
“Her mother died when she was about 13, I think mom was about 13 years old,” Joan explained.
“And she raised her siblings after that. And when she taught school, she lived right across the road from where she taught school, so she had no reason not to go, not to make it to school.”
As per reports, Bessie even had a birthday party of sorts at the Shady Oaks Care Center in Lake City. There, her children sang her favorite song: “You Are My Sunshine.”
Leon Hendricks, Bessie’s son, said: “We used to wheel her around her in Shady Oaks, and every room we’d stop at she’d still sing ‘You Are My Sunshine.’
“And … the residents, look forward to it every day, too.”
According to the Gerontology Research Group, Bessie is now the oldest person living in the US. She’s also the 10th oldest person in the world.
Happy Birthday, Bessie! And many happy returns to you!
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