What’s older than a blender, penicillin, and the U.S. moon landing? A Michigan woman celebrating her 114th birthday on July 4.
Bonita Gibson, a resident at Waltonwood Carriage Park just outside of Detroit, is believed to be the oldest living person in Michigan, according to a Waltonwood representative.
Gibson is part of a small population of supercentenarians in the United States, or someone who is at least 110 years old.
Other supercentenarians across the country include 114-year-old Naomi Whitehead of Pennsylvania, 114-year-old Mary Harris of Tennessee, and 113-year-old Winnie Felps of Texas, according to the Gerontology Research Group.
Gibson became the oldest known living person in Michigan after the death of 114-year-old Irene Dunham on May 1, 2022. The Gerontology Research Group validated her age the following year on May 4, 2023, two months shy of her 112th birthday.
Michigan woman flew for the first time at 100 years old
Gibson drove until she was 99 years old, and took her first plane ride at the age of 100, flying to San Diego, a lifelong dream of hers, Waltonwood said.
Gibson told USA TODAY some of the keys to her living such a long life include:
- Eating potatoes (seemingly a nod to her late husband and the business he worked in)
- Healthy eating
- Staying positive and always smiling
- No smoking or drinking
Michigan woman survived multiple historical events, spent great deal of her life in Idaho
Gibson was born on July 4, 1911 in a northwestern Kansas city called Hoxie, according to the Gerontology Research Group. She grew up in rural Missouri, and lived through the Spanish Flu Pandemic.
As a child, she survived the mumps, measles, and whooping cough, said a representative for Waltonwood Carriage Park. Most recently, she survived COVID-19 in 2020, making her one of the oldest known survivors of the disease, according to the research group.
Gibson married Kenneth Gibson, her high school sweetheart, in April 1930 in Oregon, Missouri; the pair married during the Great Depression. The couple lived on a farm at the time.
“We had chickens and a huge garden and all kinds of fruit trees,” Gibson told CBS Detroit in July 2023. “We had plenty to eat. We just didn’t have any money to spend.”
They eventually moved to Idaho, where her husband’s relative had a farm. The move is what introduced them to the potato industry.
“He said Kenny can help me in the field and you can be the cook,” Gibson told CBS Detroit. “I hadn’t cooked a thing in my life.”
After seven years of marriage, the pair had a son, Kenneth Richard, in January 1937. After that, the couple moved to Newdale, Idaho and later, Idaho Falls as her husband worked as a potato farmer. He later worked as a potato broker until he retired in 1977. He died in 2003.
After decades in Idaho, a move to Michigan
At the age of 102, she began living in a senior living community in Canton, Michigan, where her grandson lives. As her grandson was moving her to Michigan, Gibson had a request for him, Waltonwood Executive Director Angie Hanson told McKnight’s Senior Living.
“She wanted to ride on the back of his Harley, but he wouldn’t let her,” Hanson said.
Gibson still speaks to her son, 88-year-old Kenneth Richard, every night. She also has three grandchildren, six great-grandchildren, and 16 great-great-grandchildren.
Today, she loves reading and cards, watching “Price is Right” each day, and catching up with her friends at Waltonwood.
This year, she plans to celebrate her birthday by participating in the downtown Plymouth Fourth of July Parade. There will be a banner announcing her birthday, Waltonwood said.
As Gibson reflected on her life back in 2023, she recalled being married for over 70 years. She and Kenneth made it a point to enjoy themselves, having the most fun in the 1950s and 1960s, she told CBS Detroit.
“We would go dancing every Saturday with a group of friends,” she told the outlet.
When asked what helped to hold their marriage together, she tried to answer from the perspective of her high school sweetheart.
“I would’ve taken her back home several times, but we didn’t have any money, so we had to stay together,” she said.
This story has been updated to correct the number of grandchildren Bonita Gibson has, and to correct an inaccuracy about the facility she lives in.
Saleen Martin is a reporter on USA TODAY’s NOW team. She is from Norfolk, Virginia – the 757. Email her at sdmartin@usatoday.com.
