Bessie Hendricks of Iowa, who has been verified as the oldest living person in the United States, has celebrated her 115th birthday with a party. The guests included her son, Leon Hendricks, and her daughter, Joan Schaffer, who had just celebrated her own 90th birthday!! Bessie is believed to be the fourth oldest person in the world.
Hendricks' own mother died when she was 13, leaving her to take care of her siblings.
"She's always caring about her family," her son, Leon Hendricks, said. "She always did that. Family came first to mom. Always."
Hendricks became the oldest woman in the United States earlier this year, after the death of Thelma Sutcliffe at the age of 115 years and 108 days old. The Gerontology Research Group currently lists her as the fourth oldest person in the world.