Supercentenarian Profile

Emma Didlake

Born:

1905-03-13

Boligee, Alabama

United States

Died:

2015-08-16

West Bloomfield Township, Michigan

United States

Emma Didlake (née Underwood) was an American supercentenarian.

BIOGRAPHY

Emma Didlake was born in Boligee, Alabama, USA, on 13 March 1905. She was the daughter of Sam and Amanda Underwood. In 1922, she married Oscar Didlake in Michigan. Like Emma, Oscar was originally from Alabama and worked as a coal miner. The couple eventually settled in Lynch, Kentucky, where they raised three children.

The Didlake family was part of a larger migration of families from Alabama to the coal-mining regions of eastern Kentucky. In 1943, while still living in Lynch, Emma traveled to Cincinnati, Ohio, to enlist in the U.S. Army. She served as a driver for less than a year before returning home. In 1944, she and her family relocated to Detroit, Michigan. Oscar Didlake later passed away in Detroit in 1973.

In addition to being a licensed hairdresser, Emma was deeply involved in civil rights work in Detroit. In 2013, she was honored with the James Weldon Johnson Lifetime Achievement Award at the 58th Annual Fight for Freedom Fund Dinner hosted by the Detroit NAACP.

On 17 July 2015, Emma Didlake traveled to Washington, D.C., on an honorary trip that included a meeting with President Barack Obama and visits to several historic landmarks. Among the stops was the Women in Military Service for America Memorial at Arlington National Cemetery, where she received mementos from retired Brigadier General Wilma Vaught. The trip was organized and funded by Talons Out Honor Flight, a branch of the Honor Flight Network.

During her visit to the Oval Office, Didlake sat in her wheelchair in the same spot where foreign leaders traditionally meet with the president. President Obama praised her for her “trailblazing” service, recognizing her as both a woman and an African American veteran whose contributions helped pave the way toward the integration of the U.S. Army.

Emma Didlake passed away in West Bloomfield Township, Michigan, on 16 August 2015, at the age of 110 years, 156 days.