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Yvettep
AALBC .com Platinum Poster
Username: Yvettep
Post Number: 3247
Registered: 01-2005
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, October 20, 2008 - 04:04 pm: | 
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Ann Nixon Cooper, 106 years old, has seen presidents come and go in her lifetime and has outlived most of them. On a sunny fall morning, she left her weathered but well-kept Tudor home in Atlanta, Georgia, to vote early -- this time for Barack Obama.
The African-American centenarian remembers a time not long ago when she was barred from voting because of her race. Now she hopes to see the day that Obama is elected as the nation's first black president.
"I ain't got time to die," Cooper said with a smile.
"Even if he didn't win, I was happy for him just to be nominated," said the former socialite. "The first black president -- isn't that something, at 106 years old?"
At the Fulton County government center, Cooper was greeted by Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin.
"I thought that I would accompany her today to support her, but also to say to all people that this is a choice we have," Franklin said.
... She wears a charm bracelet that former U.S. ambassador to the U.N. and Atlanta Mayor Andrew Young gave her when she turned 99.
"He adds a charm every year," said friend and caretaker Sally Warner. "Andy says he will have to apply for a loan soon to keep up with Mrs. Cooper."
Cooper danced the electric slide up until the age of 103. She has recently slowed down after suffering several heart attacks and a fractured hip.
... She married Albert Cooper in Nashville in 1922, and the couple moved to Atlanta. Three of Cooper's four children have died; her surviving daughter is 83. She has 14 grandchildren living and many great-grandchildren and great-great-grandchildren.
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When asked about the secret to her longevity, Cooper said, "I don't know how it happened, but being cheerful had a lot to do with it. I've always been a happy person, a giggling person -- a wide-mouthed person!"
To young people, Cooper offers this advice: "Keep smiling. No matter what, you get out and vote. Vote your choice."
http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/10/20/centenarian.votes/index.html |
Cynique
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Cynique
Post Number: 12985
Registered: 01-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, October 22, 2008 - 03:06 pm: |
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This lady is truly an inspiration! Especially to someone like me.  |
Yvettep
AALBC .com Platinum Poster
Username: Yvettep
Post Number: 3255
Registered: 01-2005
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, October 23, 2008 - 01:25 pm: |
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Yes, Cynique, I agree. But check this out: Ms. Carrie Etta Walker--at 108 years old also recently cast her ballot for Sen Obama!!!
Carrie Etta Walker, of Watha, was 20 years old when women were given the right to vote and almost 64 when the Civil Rights Act outlawed segregation in public places.
And at 108 years old, Walker voted Friday in a historical election where the outcome will be either the first woman vice president or the first black president.
Walker voted for Sen. Barack Obama, her caregiver, Jerritt Boney, said.
“She was very excited,” said Boney, who went with Walker to the one-stop voting site in Burgaw.
Boney said Walker wore an Obama pin when she went to vote, and “She said, ‘Obama, Obama!’”
Boney said Walker, who often tells stories of being banned from buying bread in stores because she was black, was excited about a black man running for president and the possibility that he could live in the White House.
“She was just amazed that he was an African-American,” Boney said.
Boney said Walker votes every year and reads about politics in the newspaper every day.
http://www.starnewsonline.com/article/20081017/ARTICLES/810170243/1004?Title=Wat ha_woman__108__casts_ballot_in_early_election# |
Cynique
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Cynique
Post Number: 12987
Registered: 01-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, October 23, 2008 - 06:33 pm: |
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This election is a historical one for everybody! Not only old, but young voters will be able to tell their grandchildren that they took part in this landmark event. |
Yvettep
AALBC .com Platinum Poster
Username: Yvettep
Post Number: 3260
Registered: 01-2005
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, October 28, 2008 - 03:44 pm: |
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OK, OK, I have one more for y'all then I'm done, I swear:
Dig, if you will, 109-year old Amanda Jones:
Amanda Jones, 109, the daughter of a man born into slavery, has lived a life long enough to touch three centuries. And after voting consistently as a Democrat for 70 years, she has voted early for the country's first black presidential nominee.
The middle child of 13, Jones, who is African American, is part of a family that has lived in Republican-leaning Bastrop County for five generations. The family has remained a fixture in Cedar Creek and other parts of the county, even when its members had to eat at segregated barbecue dives and walk through the back door while white customers walked through the front, said Amanda Jones' 68-year-old daughter, Joyce Jones.
...Amanda Jones, a delicate, thin woman wearing golden-rimmed glasses, giggled as the family discussed this year's presidential election. She is too weak to go the polls, so two of her 10 children — Eloise Baker, 75, and Joyce Jones — helped her fill out a mail-in ballot for Barack Obama, Baker said. "I feel good about voting for him," Amanda Jones said.
Jones' father herded sheep as a slave until he was 12, according to the family, and once he was freed, he was a farmer who raised cows, hogs and turkeys on land he owned. Her mother was born right after the Emancipation Proclamation was signed, Joyce Jones said. The family owned more than 100 acres of land in Cedar Creek at one point, she said.
Amanda Jones' father urged her to exercise her right to vote, despite discriminatory practices at the polls and poll taxes meant to keep black and poor people from voting. Those practices were outlawed for federal elections with the 24th Amendment in 1964, but not for state and local races in Texas until 1966.
...Jones lives in a small gray house with white trim just off Texas 21. These days, a curious white kitten and a sleepy old black dog guard the house. Inside are photographs and relics of a long, full life, including a letter from then-Gov. George Bush in 1998 commemorating her 100th birthday. A black-and-white picture of her in a long flapper-style dress was taken between 1912 and 1918 — no one can remember the exact year, Baker said with a chuckle.
Jones is part of a small percentage of active voters above the age of 100 in the state — and the country.
...Secretary of State spokeswoman Ashley Burton said Texas can't confirm whether Jones is the state's oldest active voter because there is too much voter information to sort through. At the county level, there are other challenges. An election official in Hays County said its records are not searchable by age, and Bastrop County elections administrator Nora Cano said that some counties automatically list voters who were born before the turn of the 20th century with birth dates of January 1900.
The oldest active voter in Travis County is 105, officials said, and in Williamson County the oldest is 106 — making Jones the oldest-known active voter in Central Texas.
Making it to see the election results on Nov. 5 is important, but Jones is resting up for another milestone: her 110th birthday in December. "God has been good to me," she said.
http://www.statesman.com/news/content/news/stories/local/10/27/1027jones.html |
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