Winnie Lee Felps, the third-oldest living person in the United States and the oldest in Texas, turned 114 years old in Burnet on 10 October.
Felps was born in Tama, Coryell County, Texas, on 10 October 1911. She grew up on a farm in Texas and was one of nine children, and lived through the Spanish flu pandemic of 1918 without ever contracting the disease.
She married Ralph Adolph Felps Sr. (1912–1982) on 24 December 1935. In her 70s, she took up oil painting and continued the hobby until she began traveling with a nephew and three of her sisters. A devoted gardener, she maintained large vegetable gardens throughout her adult life. She also enjoyed fishing, board games, puzzles, and traveling, and she lived independently until the age of 101.
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- With her husband, around 1935.
Felps contracted COVID-19 twice—once at age 109 and again at 112—both times experiencing only mild symptoms. Even in her centenarian years, she continued to enjoy singing and music.
At age 114, six of her eight children were still living, ranging in age from 73 to 88. Her family also included 19 grandchildren, 49 great-grandchildren, and 28 great-great-grandchildren. When asked about the secret to her longevity, Felps credited her strong faith in God, good genes, hard work, an active lifestyle, and drinking milk and Dr Pepper every day.
We would like to extend our heartfelt congratulations to Mrs. Felps. We hope she celebrated her birthday surrounded by loved ones and wish her many more years of health and happiness.
We extend our sincere thanks to Mrs. Felps’s family for their kind cooperation with our member, Gabriel Ainsworth, and for providing the biography and photographs. We are especially grateful to her daughter, Barbara Rieger, for generously sharing these materials with us.
On her 114th birthday in 2025.
