Hester (Esther), meaning star and hidden. Sounds like she won a beauty contest.
And Yinon is one of the names of the Messiah (= 116). Just thought I'd point that out. ;)
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Posted on 04/17/2021 11:03:09 PM PDT by nickcarraway
Hester Ford, born in 1904, moved to Charlotte in the 1950s.
Ford has seen a lot in her lifetime, more than anyone in the United States.
She had been known as the oldest living American at 116 years old.
Ford died Saturday, according to her great-granddaughter.
“Her light shined beyond her local area and she lived beyond a century with memories containing real-life experience of over 100 years,” her great-granddaughter Tanisha Patterson-Powe said. “She not only represented the advancement of our family but of the Black African American race and culture in our country. She was a reminder of how far we have come as people on this earth. She has been celebrated all over the world by local governments, community leaders, social media, foreign dignities and Presidents as a cherished jewel of society for holding the honor of being the oldest living person in America.”
Patterson-Powe said Ms. Ford died peacefully at her home in Charlotte surrounded by family.
Hester Ford, oldest living American, celebrates 116th birthday in Charlotte Ford was born in Lancaster, South Carolina.
She grew up working on a farm where she not only planted and picked cotton, but plowed the field and cut wood.
She was married to John Ford, a steelworker, at the age of 15 and they later moved to Charlotte in 1953. She was married to John for 45 years when he died in 1963.
Ford worked for more than 20 years as a nanny for two families in Myers Park and has been living in the same house in the Dalebrook neighborhood of Charlotte for more than 59 years.
She is a longtime member of Macedonia Baptist Church where prior to the coronavirus pandemic, she attended each first Sunday of every month for communion.
Ford has lived through two global pandemics, the 1918 influenza pandemic and currently the COVID-19 pandemic.
As the matriarch of a large family, Ford has 12 children, 48 grandchildren, 108 great-grandchildren and approximately 120 great-great-grandchildren.
“Although she has passed, her legacy and memory will continue to live on through her family and everyone she has touched to make the world a better place for generations to come,” Patterson-Powe said.
As of July 30, she was the oldest person on record living in the United States, based on data compiled by the Gerontology Research Group.
Ford celebrated her 115th birthday at her home with family and friends.
However, because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the family hosted a drive-by party,
“We are honored and we just thank God for the opportunity to celebrate her,” said Mary Hill, one of Hester Ford’s 68 grandchildren. “She just continues to be a blessing to us. And she tells us all the time. You are here to be a blessing to someone else.”
Ford tied the age of Edna Parker to enter the top ten oldest Americans of all-time. She is also one of the 50 longest-lived validated people in history, according to gerontology.
The next oldest living person is Thelma Sutcliffe, from Nebraska, who is 114 years and 198 days old.
At 111 years old, Ford was able to recite the 23rd Psalm from the Bible.
[ Sept. 1 declared as Hester Ford Day in Mecklenburg Co. in honor of oldest living American ]
Last year, county commissioners declared September 1 as Hester Ford day in Mecklenburg County.
“The Mecklenburg Board of County Commissioners honors the life and legacy of Ms. Hester Ford and hereby proclaim Tuesday, September 1, 2020 as ‘Mother Hester McCardell Ford Day,’” the official proclamation read.
Why did her great grand-daughter decide to make her death about race?
Imagine the outrage, if a white person claimed their grandparent, “not only represented the advancement of their family but of the White American race and culture in our country.”
RIP
Often when I read articles about the oldest American, it seems a fair amount have been black. It seems counterintuitive, given average life expectancy for various racial groups in the US.
In another article another relative provided insight-“if not for America pulling off 116 years among and competing with Tigers, Cheetahs, Lions, and Hyenas...in Africa? Ain’t Happening.”
These people rarely know their own age.
I don’t think my IRA and SS can take me another 43 years. Maybe if I hit 105 I could do a GoFundMe. OMG getting up to use the bathroom 4 times a night would expand exponentially. I see a life on the throne. King of my 6’x 8’ domain.
It is kind of interesting that not one living person in America was born in the 19th Century. The first two presidents in my life, and all four of my grandparents, were born before 1900.
It is also interesting that 120 years appears to be the ceiling on human life span.
Frankly, I look at age 80 as being the ceiling on a completely healthy life span.
Almost no one gets smarter or healthier after age 80.
Moses lived to 120 in perfect health and then was taken away. I believe that is the cap as proscribed by the creator. Very skeptical of those who claim to be older than that.
At 111 years old, Ford was able to recite the 23rd Psalm from the Bible.
I’d bet she as well as many of these older black people have/had total and absolute faith in Psalm 91 too (Joe, thats Palms for you) and that is their secret. Especially relevant in the time of covid.
shortened:
“1 He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High
will abide in the shadow of the Almighty.a
2 I will say to the LORD, “You are my refuge and my fortress,
my God, in whom I trust.”
3 Surely He will deliver you
from the snare of the fowler,
and from the deadly plague.
5 You will not fear the terror of the night,
nor the arrow that flies by day,
6 nor the pestilence that stalks in the darkness,
nor the calamity that destroys at noon.
7 Though a thousand may fall at your side,
and ten thousand at your right hand,
no harm will come near you.
8 You will only see it with your eyes
and witness the punishment of the wicked.
9 Because you have made the LORD your dwelling—
my refuge, the Most High—
10 no evil will befall you,
no plague will approach your tent.
11 For He will command His angels concerning you
to guard you in all your ways.
14 “Because he loves Me, I will deliver him;
because he knows My name, I will protect him.
15 When he calls out to Me,
I will answer him;
I will be with him in trouble.
I will deliver him and honor him.
16 With long life I will satisfy him
and show him My salvation.”
Here you go:
Genesis 6:3 And the LORD said, My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh: yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years.
After high school, i worked for a summer in a factory with several older black women. We didn’t have too much to say to each other but they worked hard and did their job and had a certain “soul” about them that made you feel good.
Psalms 90:10
The days of our years are threescore years and ten; and if by reason of strength they be fourscore years, yet is their strength labour and sorrow; for it is soon cut off, and we fly away.
The second oldest person in the world is very worried today.......
Back around 1999 while on a pheasant hunting trip to NW Kansas, I had an opportunity to chat with a 94 year old lady who lived her entire life in that teeny little town.
Most notable of her experiences was what life was like for her during the dust bowl years.....
If the top medical expert in the universe says 120 years, the issue is settled!
Covid takes another life
Tears!
Utterly pathetic. The woman lived over 115 years only to see her family reduced to a bunch of simpering cowards.
Hester (Esther), meaning star and hidden. Sounds like she won a beauty contest.
And Yinon is one of the names of the Messiah (= 116). Just thought I'd point that out. ;)
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‘The first two presidents in my life, and all four of my grandparents, were born before 1900.’
the first two presidents of my life were Truman (1884) and Eisenhower (1890); my father’s parents were born in the 1880’s, and my mother, seven years my father’s junior, were born in 1905 and 1906...
‘I believe that is the cap as proscribed by the creator.’
unlikely; very few live to that age, and we find it remarkable if they get close...also, interesting that the creator would cap his prized creation, mankind, to an average of less than a hundred, but allow the red sea urchin to easily eclipse 150 years, and often making it to 200...
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