Bonita Gibson, a resident of Canton, Michigan, is celebrating her 114th birthday today, according to Upper Michigan’s Source.
Gibson was born in Hoxie, Sheridan County, Kansas, on 4 July 1911. She grew up with her older brother, Daryl. After their parents separated, their uncle and aunt in Mound City, Missouri, took them in and raised them.
Gibson met her future husband, Kenneth, in high school—he was a senior, and she was a sophomore. They married in 1930 during the Great Depression. She later recalled how tough those times were, but they managed to get by with hard work and resourcefulness. The couple raised chickens, tended a large garden, and grew various fruit trees to keep food on the table.
In the 1930s, they moved to Idaho to join one of Kenneth’s relatives who owned a farm. This move introduced them to the potato industry. Kenneth handled potato shipments to places like Chicago, while Gibson managed the office work. They welcomed their son, also named Kenneth, in January 1937.
After Kenneth passed away in 2003, Gibson relocated to Nashville, Tennessee, to be closer to her son. Later, she moved again to be near her grandchildren in Metro Detroit, Michigan. At 99, she took her first plane trip—flying to San Diego, a place she had always dreamed of visiting.
At the moment, she is the oldest living person in Michigan, and the third-oldest in the USA, after Naomi Whitehead and Mary Harris.
LongeviQuest extends warm congratulations to Bonita Gibson on her 114th birthday.
