BIOGRAPHY

Cecelia Kelly was born in Harper, Keokuk County, Iowa, United States on 13 February 1891, to parents Mathias and Josephine (Linnenkamp) Ludwig. At the age of two, her family moved to Cheney, Washington, where they would reside on a chicken farm. She attended Pine Grove Elementary, which she reached every day on the back of a horse. Upon graduating from Cheney High School, she earned a teaching degree from Cheney Normal School, a precursor to Eastern Washington University, and would begin teaching in Montana, surviving illnesses such as pneumonia and smallpox. She married her husband, John T. Kelly, in 1927, but were only married for five years before John’s death in 1932.

Following the death of her husband, she returned to her parents’ homestead in Cheney, where she would reside for the next 60 years, until she was 101, when she moved with her family to Spokane, Washington. In 1996, at the age of 105, she participated in the Lilac Bloomsday Run in Spokane, Washington, being pushed in a wheelchair for most of the race until deciding to walk the final stretch with the aid of two canes, making her the oldest Bloomsday finisher.

Cecelia Kelly died in Spokane, Spokane County, Washington, United States, on 4 August 2002, at the age of 111 years, 172 days. At the time of her death, she was the oldest living resident of the state of Washington.

RECOGNITION

Her age was verified by Jimmy Lindberg, Anson Davis, Ilias Leivaditis and Marco Wikkerink, and validated by LongeviQuest on 2 April 2024.

ATTRIBUTION

“Slowly but surely” –

GALLERY