Iowa Archives

LongeviQuest is delighted to share the age validation of Margaret Cundy at 110 years old. She was an American supercentenarian known as the second-oldest living person in Iowa, USA, at the time of her death.

Margaret Cundy was born on 16 July 1911 in Cedar Falls, Black Hawk County, Iowa, USA.
On 2 November 1949, she was married to John E. Cundy (1914-1976) and the couple had no children during their marriage. She worked as a District Traffic Chief Clerk at Northwestern Bell Telephone Company in Waterloo from 1930 to 1975.

At the age of 110.
(Source: Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier)

Margaret Cundy passed away on 29 October 2021 in Cedar Falls, Black Hawk County, Iowa, USA. At the time of her death, she was 110 years old and the second-oldest person in the region after Hazel Young.

For more information, please view Margaret Cundy’s Directory Profile here.

LongeviQuest is pleased to announce the age validation of Celma Birdsall of the United States at age 110. She was born in Hampton, Iowa, United States on 24 July 1908. She was one of eight children. After high school, she taught for 4 years in a rural school before working at Earl Ferris Nursery.

Shortly before her 109th birthday.
(Source: Ottumwa Courier)

Mrs. Birdsall married on May 26, 1932, and moved to Ottumwa during WWII to open a tire store which eventually got ruined in the 1947 flood. In 1948, the couple moved to a farm outside Floris, Iowa, and had three children. In 1950, Birdsall became a postmaster in Floris and held that position until her retirement in 1978. After retirement, she traveled to many Postmaster conventions throughout the United States.

Birdsall passed away in Ottumwa, Iowa, USA, on 17 August 2018, at the age of 110. She was survived by three children, 13 grandchildren; 51 great-grandchildren, and 48 great-great-grandchildren.

LongeviQuest congratulates Celma Birdsall’s family on her posthumous recognition.

For more information, please view Birdsall’s Directory Profile here.

LongeviQuest is pleased to announce the age validation of Rose DeGrasse at 110 years old. She was an American supercentenarian considered to be among the oldest living people in Texas, USA, and possibly the oldest living person of Lebanese descent.

Rose DeGrasse was born Rose Mary Rizk in Sioux City, Iowa, USA, on 4 October 1912. Her parents are originally from the village of Jib Janin in Beqaa Valley, Lebanon, and she had five siblings.

She grew up in Sioux City in the house her father built in 1918. She also did her schooling there where she finished her high school from Sioux City East High School in 1930.

Rose attended two years at the University of Iowa as a college undergraduate in psychiatric social work. She shared a room there with her sister, Josephine Margaret Studebaker. Then, the two of them returned to Sioux City upon hearing some news about their mother. It was about their mother being involved in an automobile accident that left her paraplegic in 1933.

Undated, with her husband.
(Source: SiouxlandProud.com)

On 8 December 1945, Rose married Charles “Chuck” DeGrasse who was previously stationed in Europe during the war. The couple had three children.

She served on the Alter Societies of two churches before becoming a member of St. Mark the Evangelist Catholic Church in San Antonio. She also played gold avidly for 75 years before giving up at the age of 96.

DeGrasse passed away in San Antonio, Texas, USA, on 5 November 2022, at the age of 110 years old. She was survived by two of her children, four grandchildren, seven great-grandchildren, and two great-great grandsons.

For more information, please view Rose DeGrasse’s Directory Profile here.