Supercentenarian Profile

Doris Mahannah

Born:

1916-06-24

Stanly County, North Carolina

United States

Current Residence:

Hartwell, Georgia

United States

✔ Age Certified by LongeviQuest

Doris Lilly Mahannah (née Cline Fesperman) is an American supercentenarian whose age has been validated by LongeviQuest.

BIOGRAPHY

Doris Mahannah was born in Stanly County, North Carolina, USA, on 24 June 1916.

Following a stint during World War II at a shell plant manufacturing ammunition for the U.S. Navy, Mahannah joined the Loebline Furniture Company in Salisbury, North Carolina. There, she specialized in custom upholstery for high-end furniture sought by Hollywood stars and U.S. presidents. During Richard Nixon’s presidency, she sewed the cushions for the White House dining room chairs.

Mahannah retired in the early 1980s. She survived breast cancer twice—first in 1983 and again in 1987—and in 2012, at the age of 96, she moved to Hartwell, where she became a member of First Presbyterian Church.

At the age of 104, she was reported to be spending most of her time at home during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, she remained an avid seamstress, sewing for hours each day. She made baby pajamas for Tiny Stitches, a volunteer group that creates clothing and other handmade items for newborns. She had been sewing since she was nine or ten years old, having learned the craft from her mother, who made all of her family’s clothes.