06-07-2025
114-Year-Old Woman Reveals the 1 Food She Credits to Living a Long Life — and Shares Her Other Secrets to Longevity
Bonita Gibson turned 114 years old on July 4, making her one step closer to securing the title of world's oldest living person
Ethel Caterham, 115, earned the Guinness World Records title in April after Inah Canabarro Lucas died at age 116
The oldest person ever, Jeanne Louise Calment, lived for 122 years before she died, per Guinness World RecordsBonita Gibson, who turned 114 on July 4, has revealed her secrets to longevity.
The Michigan woman's family told PEOPLE that one particular food — the potato — is a main contributing factor to her living a long life.
Potatoes have been a constant for Gibson for more than a century, especially after she married Kenneth Richard, who worked in the potato industry for decades in Idaho after they wed in 1930.
Richard retired in 1977 and died in 2003, but Gibson's family said she continues eating potatoes to this day.
Gibson, a resident of the Waltonwood Carriage Park senior living facility in Canton, also shared that not drinking, not smoking and eating healthy are some of her other secrets for living past 100 years old.
Remaining positive and constantly smiling were some others.
Gibson, who was born July 4, 1911, is among the oldest people in the world, having survived mumps, measles and whooping cough as a child as well as COVID when she was 109, her family told PEOPLE.
Her relatives also said that she drove until she was 99, flew on an airplane for the first time at 100 and visited a casino for the first time at 102.
Nowadays, Gibson enjoys reading, playing cards and speaking with her son Richard, 88, every night. She also has three grandchildren, six great grandchildren and 16 great grandchildren.
Gibson is also nearing the Guinness World Records' title for world's oldest living person. Ethel Caterham, 115, claimed the record in April, following the death of 116-year-old Brazilian nun Inah Canabarro Lucas.
Caterham, who lives in a nursing home in Surrey in South East England, also revealed what it takes to live a long life.
"Never arguing with anyone, I listen and I do what I like,' she said, per the Associated Press.
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Sharing more secrets to longevity, Caterham once said, per Guinness World Records: 'Say yes to every opportunity because you never know what it will lead to. Have a positive mental attitude and have everything in moderation.'
According to the record-keeping organization, the oldest person ever, Jeanne Louise Calment of France, lived for 122 years and 164 days before she died in 1997.
Read the original article on People
