With 288 children and grandchildren, the oldest person in the United States died at the age of 116

Hester Ford, the oldest citizen of the United States, died on the 17th of March at the age of 116. When asked about the secret of her longevity, she always replied, “All I know is to live well.”

AFP reports that Tanisha Myers, the great-granddaughter of North Carolina resident Ford, announced her great-grandmother’s death on social media Facebook, saying that Ford died peacefully at home with her family by her side.

Fox5 Atlanta reported that Ford was born on Aug. 15, 1904, the year ice cream cones were introduced, World War I had not yet begun and the Panama Canal had just begun construction. She was certified as the oldest American by the Gerontology Research Group.

After the death of her husband of 45 years in 1963, she was widowed for life and never remarried. Ford has a total of 288 children and grandchildren: 12 children, 48 grandchildren, 108 great-grandchildren and 120 great-grandchildren.

According to CBS affiliate WBTV in Charlotte, North Carolina, Ford grew up in rural South Carolina, growing and picking cotton, plowing fields, cutting wood and later working as a nanny for many years.

According to the Geriatrics Research Organization, Ford became the oldest living citizen in the United States after the 114-year-old Alelia Murphy passed away in 2019.

Ford will be half a banana for breakfast every day, but whenever people ask about the secret of her longevity, she always simply replied, “All I know is to live well.”

Ford reportedly suffered from dementia in her later years, but she was still able to recite golden verses from the Bible on her 112th birthday.

A family statement noted, “Although she has passed away, her influence and memories will live on through her family and everyone she came in contact with, making this world a better place for future generations.”

According to the Geriatrics Research Organization, the oldest living American after Ford is now Thelma Sutcliffe, 114, of Omaha, Nebraska. The world’s oldest living adult is believed to be 118-year-old resident of Fukuoka, Japan, Kako Tanaka.