World’s oldest woman turns 116, plans party in N.Y.

Attributing her longevity to “sleep,” clean living and positive energy, the world’s oldest living person celebrated her 116th birthday Monday.

Born on July 6, 1899, in Lowndes County, Ala., Susannah Mushatt Jones has lived in parts of three centuries, according to Guinness World Records. Her father was a sharecropper who supported his family by picking cotton.

The Brooklyn, N.Y., woman has lived through 20 U.S. presidents, two world wars and the birth of the automobile, the airplane, TV and the Internet.

Guinness officially recognized Jones as the oldest recorded person on the planet last month after 116-year-old Jeralean Talley died in suburban Detroit. The oldest living person ever recorded was Jeanne Calment of France, who died in 1997 at 122.

Jones attended the Calhoun Colored School in Calhoun, Alabama, where Booker T. Washington was an original member of the school’s Board of Trustees, according to the New York City Housing Authority.

In 1923, Jones moved north to New York, where she worked as a live-in housekeeper and child-care provider.

Jones said she was determined to give the first-born girl in her family the gift of a college education. Despite her $50 weekly salary, she said she single-handedly put her first three nieces through college.

Jones has lost her eyesight and is hard of hearing but gets around in a wheelchair. The third oldest of 10 children, she has 100 nieces and nephews.

Jones has said she does not smoke or drink and cites loving relationships as a secret to her longevity.

“I surround myself with love and positive energy,” she told the New York City Housing Authority in 2005. “That’s the key to long life and happiness.”

Jones planned to celebrate her birthday Monday with a family event, followed by a larger celebration Tuesday with her friends, family, and housing community.