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DALLAS — A 114-year-old woman, considered the oldest person in Texas, has died at a Dallas retirement home.
Arbella Perkins Ewings celebrated her birthday March 13 with a proclamation from Mayor Tom Leppert and speeches by friends and family. She blew out all 114 candles on her birthday cake.
But during the party, she warned those attending that she wouldn't be around much longer.
Ewings died Saturday at Grace Presbyterian Village, according to a spokeswoman for Evergreen Funeral Home.
"She was telling everyone, 'It's time to meet my maker,'" Sabrina Porter, the retirement home's executive director, told The Dallas Morning News. "It was a blessing that she went so peacefully."
At the time of her death, Ewings was the oldest person in Texas, the second-oldest American and the third-oldest person in the world, according to the Gerontology Research Group, a California group that tracks the world's oldest people.
As of March 1, the organization had validated 81 "supercentenarians" who were 110 years or older. The oldest, Edna Parker of Indiana, will turn 115 in April, and the second-oldest, Maria de Jesus of Portugal, turned 114 last September.
Ewings was born March 13, 1894, the fourth oldest of 12 children whose great-grandparents had been slaves in Mississippi. She married Frank Ewings in 1915, and they moved to South Dallas in 1936, where she worked as a housekeeper until the 1960s.
Frank Ewings died in 1977, and the couple's only daughter, Claudia, died in 1970.
"She told me once that the secret to a long life is she spent six months minding her own business and six months leaving other people alone," said Ruby Perkins Williams, a great-grandniece.
Ewings was proud of being able to care for herself and her 900-square-foot home well after she turned 100.
She was forced to move into the retirement home after she fell and broke her hip at a family party to celebrate her 113th birthday.
Her only surviving sibling, Annie Lee Perkins, is 103.
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On the Net:
Gerontology Research Group: http://www.grg.org/
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{"commentId":3252458,"authorDomain":"Westtexasdustdevil"}
Can you tell me who now is the oldest native born Texas? My grandmother will be 101 in Jan. and would like to do something special for her. Just woundering who is still around that is this old or older. Please email me.
Rick S, Lubbock Texas.
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#1 - Wed Oct 1, 2008 10:35 PM EDT{"canLink":false,"threadId":"375465","isPrivate":false}
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