Woman considered oldest Texan dies at 114
Arbella Perkins Ewings, who one group says was the second-oldest American, was
honored by the city of Dallas on her last birthday
Associated Press
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DALLAS - A 114-year-old woman, considered the oldest person in Texas, has died
at a Dallas retirement home.
Arbella Perkins Ewings celebrated her birthday March 13 with a proclamation from
Mayor Tom Leppert and speeches by friends and family. She blew out all 114
candles on her birthday cake.
But during the party, she warned those attending that she wouldn't be around
much longer.
Ewings died Saturday at Grace Presbyterian Village, a spokeswoman for Evergreen
Funeral Home said.
"She was telling everyone, 'It's time to meet my maker,' " Sabrina Porter, the
retirement home's executive director, told the Dallas Morning News. "It was a
blessing that she went so peacefully."
At the time of her death, Ewings was the oldest person in Texas, the
second-oldest American and the third-oldest person in the world, according to
the Gerontology Research Group, a California group that tracks the world's
oldest people.
As of March 1, the organization had validated 81 "supercentenarians," who were
at least 110 years old. The oldest, Edna Parker, of Indiana, will turn 115 in
April, and the second-oldest, Maria de Jesus, of Portugal, turned 114 in
September.
Ewings was born March 13, 1894, the fourth oldest of 12 children whose
great-grandparents had been slaves in Mississippi. She married Frank Ewings in
1915, and they moved to South Dallas in 1936, where she worked as a housekeeper
until the 1960s.
Frank Ewings died in 1977, and the couple's only daughter, Claudia, died in
1970.
"She told me once that the secret to a long life is she spent six months minding
her own business and six months leaving other people alone," great-grandniece
Ruby Perkins Williams said.
Ewings was proud of being able to care for herself and her 900-square-foot home
well after she turned 100.
She was forced to move into the retirement home after she fell and broke her hip
at a family party to celebrate her 113th birthday.
Her only surviving sibling, Annie Lee Perkins, is 103.