Oldest US resident spreads gospel
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She may hold the record by a mere four days, but at 113, Huntingdon's Delphine Gibson is now officially America's oldest living resident.
Gibson took the mantle Sunday, after 114-year-old Adele Dunlap of New Jersey died at a hospital near her home. The Huntingdon resident, who spent much of her life in Mount Union after growing up in the South, now ranks as the world's 15th oldest person, according to the Gerontology Research Group.
"She's still her spunky self," said Kammi Plummer, admissions and outreach director at AristaCare at Huntingdon Park, where Gibson lives. "She still sings. She spreads the gospel."
Gibson remains the second-oldest American citizen: 114-year-old Marie-Josephine Gaudette, the oldest, was born in New Hampshire but now lives in Italy. Behind Gibson, the second-oldest person living in the United States is Ila Jones of Georgia at a mere four days younger.
Born Aug. 17, 1903, in South Carolina as Delphine Tucker, Gibson, who is African-American, grew up at the height of the South's repressive Jim Crow era. Census documents show she grew up on her father's farm, working the land with her family as a teenager.
She eventually married Taylor Gibson and spent years with him in North Carolina before eventually settling in Mount Union. The borough hosted a growing black population at the time, with workers migrating from the South to work at silica brick mills.
"She's a very sweet woman," said Jeannette Helton Stennett, who grew up near Gibson along Division Street. Stennett is a parishioner at Mount Hope Missionary Baptist, where decades ago Gibson would prepare fried chicken for community dinners.
Gibson is blind and can't attend church anymore, Stennett said, but her fellow parishioners have gathered with her to celebrate birthdays and special occasions.
"I'm just so proud of her that she's still kicking," Stennett said. "When you have a matriarch in the community, when you have someone that has that type of longevity, they need to be honored."
Gibson has already earned attention for her long life: Huntingdon Mayor DeeDee Brown declared a boroughwide "Delphine Gibson Week" when she turned 112. On Friday, Brown said she intends to proclaim another holiday and will push for similar honors at the county and state level.
Employees and residents at AristaCare knew of her longevity but didn't realize she would hold the national title until someone informed them this week, Plummer said. They told Gibson soon after learning of her new position.
"She just kind of acted surprised and said, 'You don't say?" Plummer recalled, laughing. "We also told her she was she prettiest. She just said, 'I know that.'"
Mirror Staff Writer Ryan Brown is at 946-7457.