Susannah Mushatt Jones, a Brooklyn woman, turned 116 Monday, claiming the title of world’s oldest person.
According to the Guinness World Record holder, the secret to longevity is
“lots of sleep,” USA Today reported. Jones’ family, however, attributed her long life span to her love for her family and generosity.
Her family says there is no known medical reason for her long life, but believes growing up on a farm where she ate plenty of fresh fruits and vegetables may have played a role. She also appears to be in relatively good health and takes only high blood pressure medicine and a multivitamin daily. She visits the doctor only once
every four months, according to The Associated Press. However, 15 years ago a spout of glaucoma left her blind, on top of her hearing difficulties.
Jones sticks to a strict daily routine in which she wakes up around 9 a.m., bathes, and eats a breakfast of bacon, eggs, and grits. She then reflects on her life while sitting in her recliner in her one-bedroom apartment surrounded by photos of her family, the AP noted.
Jones currently lives in a senior facility in Brooklyn, New York, but was born in Montgomery, Alabama, on July 6, 1899. One of 11 siblings, Jones attended a special school for black girls and graduated high school in 1922. After spending a year helping her family pick crops, she moved to New Jersey to start a job as a nanny.
Shortly after, she made her way to New York to start a scholarship fund for African-American women to go to college. Jones was active in her building’s tenant patrol until the age of 106.
Lois Judge, Jones’ niece, asked “Tee,” as Jones is called by her family, how old she was.
“I don’t know,” Jones replied, according to the AP.
Jones needs to hold out only six more years and 164 days in order to hold the record for the oldest person to ever live. The record currently rests with Jeanne Calment, a French woman who died in 1997 at the age of 122, according to USA Today.
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