Supercentenarian Profile

James Clayton Flowers

Born:

1915-12-25

Surry County, Virginia

United States

Current Residence:

Las Cruces, New Mexico

United States

✔ Age Certified by LongeviQuest

James Clayton Flowers is an American retired military pilot who served with the Tuskegee Airmen during World War II. His age has been validated by LongeviQuest.

BIOGRAPHY

James Clayton Flowers was born in Surry County, Virginia, USA, on 25 December 1915, to parents James Thomas Flowers (1888-1985) and Lillie Rebecca Clayton (1886-1940). He was the eldest of five children, of whom one died in early childhood, and three of whom lived into adulthood – Fred Thomas Flowers (1917–2001), Mabel Katherine Flowers (1918–2008), and Stafford Alvin Flowers (1924–2011). His parents were among the first residents of Frederick Douglass Court in Richmond, Virginia. His father was an independent masonry contractor, and his mother was an educator and seamstress.

Flowers grew up in Surry County before moving to Richmond, Virginia, where his family settled. A precocious student and voracious reader, he began his early schooling at home under the care of his mother before continuing schooling at one-room schoolhouses. Later, he attended Catholic schools in Richmond and graduated high school in 1932. Flowers went on to Virginia Union College for three years under a theology-based curriculum. Flowers earned his bachelor’s degree from Virginia Union University.

During World War II, he was drafted into the U.S. Army in 1941 and joined the Army Air Corps. He was assigned to Officer Candidate School in Tuskegee, Alabama, where he became a member of the 477th Medium Bomber Group—better known as the Tuskegee Airmen. His unit was later transferred to Freeman Field near Seymour, Indiana. After five years of service, Flowers left the Army with the rank of first lieutenant.

Following his military service, he became a housing contractor, working alongside his brother, Fred, and their father, who came out of retirement to assist them. Together, they laid brick for a New York City housing project developed by Fred Trump, the father of President Donald Trump. Like his father, he became a successful bricklayer, but he was forced to give up the trade after developing severe tennis elbow. He subsequently left the family business and returned to school, embarking on a new career as a mathematics teacher.

On 11 August 1951, Flowers married Evelyn Lorraine Church (1919-2008), a Michigan native and fellow educator in New York City. Together, they had three children; two sons and a daughter. The family settled on Manhattan’s lower east side. After the birth of their first grandchild, the couple began traveling throughout the United States and Canada. The family lived in New York City but later moved to Deming, New Mexico, finally settling in Las Cruces in 1984. Evelyn Flowers passed away on 14 February 2008.

Flowers has been honored for his military contributions, receiving the Congressional Gold Medal awarded to the surviving Tuskegee Airmen in 2007. In 2019, congressional representative Xochitl Torres Small wished him happy birthday in the House of Representatives. At age 105, he still lived independently in the Las Cruces house that he constructed himself. He got up every day around 4 or 5 a.m., made his own meals, and got around in his indoor and outdoor scooter. He got some exercise by walking out to the end of his block twice a week using a walker. He had caregiver visits twice a day and receives his Meals on Wheels delivery during the week. Evaluating his life experiences, Flowers said, “I feel good about having built houses, having taught school,” and his secret to a long life was simply that he had “a tolerance for others and their beliefs”. And, “although I’ve always been a talkative person, I’m not really obsessed with myself.“