Arkansas Blog: When I'm 111

The oldest Arkansan has a round of birthday activities this week that would tire someone nearly half her age.

NEWS RELEASE

Lincoln, oldest living Arkansan, to celebrate 111th birthday

LITTLE ROCK - Ruth Lincoln of Little Rock, Arkansas’s oldest living person, will celebrate her 111th birthday on Tuesday, September 30, at a lunch with friends. The following weekend, October 3-5, there will be a series of special birthday events for family and friends.

On Friday, October 3, at 4:00 p.m., Lincoln will take a helicopter ride from the parking lot at Parkway Village, 14300 Chenal Parkway, where she resides. The ride will be followed by an ice cream social for all Parkway Village residents.

On Saturday, October 4, from 2:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m., she will walk on the Junction Bridge in downtown Little Rock and attend a gathering with family and friends in the Ozark Pavilion. She celebrated her 110th birthday last year with a walk on the Big Dam Bridge.

Other events planned for the weekend include a Friday evening family dinner at CREW Restaurant and worship at 11:00 a.m. on Sunday, October 5, at Second Presbyterian Church where Lincoln is an active member and regular attendee.

Lincoln, grandmother-in-law to U.S. Senator Blanche Lincoln (D-Ark.), was born on a farm 10 miles from Oklahoma City on September 30, 1897. She graduated from Oklahoma A&M (now Oklahoma State University) and moved to Arkansas with her husband, the late Ben Lincoln, whom she met in college. She has lived in Paragould, Batesville, Van Buren and Little Rock. According to the Gerontology Research Group, she is now the 59th oldest person in the world.

Two years ago, at age 109, Lincoln was a guest speaker at the University of Arkansas Clinton School of Public Serviced where she told of her life that spans three centuries. A video of her appearance can be viewed at: http://www.clintonschoolresearch.com/lecture/view/arkansass-oldest-living-person/.