--- title: World's Oldest Person Jeralean Talley Turns 116 description: Oldest woman in the world Jeralean Talley turns 116 on her birthday May 23 and shares her secrets to long life canonical: https://time.com/3894730/worlds-oldest-person-jeralean-talley-116th-birthday/ author: Olivia B. Waxman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-05-22T20:09:38.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-05-11T04:47:32.362Z og:title: How the World's Oldest Person Is Celebrating Her 116th Birthday og:description: Jeralean Talley turns 116 on May 23 og:url: https://time.com/3894730/worlds-oldest-person-jeralean-talley-116th-birthday/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb53bb31c6b72154b/698690b6cd68482b2c094cb9/talley-2012-fishing.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: talley-2012-fishing og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: How the World's Oldest Person Is Celebrating Her 116th Birthday twitter:description: Jeralean Talley turns 116 on May 23 twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb53bb31c6b72154b/698690b6cd68482b2c094cb9/talley-2012-fishing.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # How the World's Oldest Person Is Celebrating Her 116th Birthday ## Video: The Island That Holds the Secret to Long Life [Watch (HLS stream): The Island That Holds the Secret to Long Life](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/orlnwhNb.m3u8) (7:08)  _Published 2014-05-23. Here's how the people of Ikaria, Greece reach old age_  by [Olivia B. Waxman](/author/olivia-b-waxman/)  ## Olivia B. Waxman Staff Writer May 22, 2015 8:09 PM CUT  Jeralean Talley and godson Tyler Kinloch pictured with one of the seven catfish she caught at the Spring Valley Trout Farm in Dexter, Mich., on June 16, 2012. Jeralean Talley and godson Tyler Kinloch pictured with one of the seven catfish she caught at the Spring Valley Trout Farm in Dexter, Mich., on June 16, 2012.Courtesy of Michael Kinloch  by [Olivia B. Waxman](/author/olivia-b-waxman/)  ## Olivia B. Waxman Staff Writer May 22, 2015 8:09 PM CUT The world’s oldest person is laughing and feeling “good” about turning 116 on Saturday. “I feel good, I just can’t get around like I would like to,” Jeralean Talley told TIME on the eve of her birthday in a phone call from her Inkster, Mich. home aided by her 77-year-old daughter Thelma Holloway. The Los Angeles-based [Gerontology Research Group](http://time.com/3772979/new-oldest-living-person-jeralean-talley/ "undefined") named the Montrose, Ga. native the oldest person in the world last month after the two women who held the title before her died within the same week—Misao Okawa of Osaka, Japan at 117 and Gertrude Weaver of Camden, Ark. at 116. On Thursday, the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services in Inkster threw her a birthday party and gave her $116 as a birthday present—one dollar for each year of her life. She also received a letter from President Obama. “The breadth of your experiences and depth of your wisdom reflect the long path our Nation has traveled since 1899,” the message said. “You have been an important part of the great unending story that is America.” In addition, her physical therapist gave her a bouquet of roses Friday morning, and she is gearing up for two more birthday parties this weekend, including one this Sunday at her church, the New Jerusalem Missionary Baptist Church. When she isn’t going to party after party, she is home watching _Jeopardy!_ and _The Ellen DeGeneres Show_ and clapping along to whatever is playing on the radio. [Over the years](http://newsfeed.time.com/2013/05/23/happy-114th-birthday-to-jeralean-talley-the-oldest-living-american/ "undefined"), her hobbies have included fishing for trout and catfish, sewing dresses, making quilts, playing casino slot machines and bowling—scoring 200 in one game before she stopped at 104 years old because her legs got too weak. She can still eat her favorite foods like chicken wings and potato salad, and while her specialty dish has always been Hog Head Cheese (made from pigs’ ears and feet), her daughter Thelma Holloway says Talley “stays away from butter and cheese” now. But that’s because her tastes have changed, not because of any health reasons. Holloway claims Talley’s doctor “didn’t find anything wrong” with her during a check-up earlier week and says blood pressure pills are the only medication that she takes regularly. “She’s still in her right mind,” according to Holloway. It is not unheard of for people over 110 to be this healthy. As [TIME previously reported](http://time.com/2873247/second-oldest-american-115-birthday/?iid=time%5Fspeed "undefined"), some experts think a rare combination of genes might explain why super-centenarians age more slowly and don’t develop age-related diseases like dementia, heart disease, or cancer, to name a few. It is also possible that these genes are on the X chromosome, and because women have two of those, that would explain why almost all of the verified super-centenarians are female. Talley maintains the secret to long life is faith in God and being kind to others, but her family still can’t believe Talley is celebrating her 116th birthday this week. “I want to be able to live that long myself,” Aisha Holloway, her 39-year-old great-granddaughter, said in a phone call. “I work at a rehab center where I see older people that give up, so it’s kinda emotional because I see my grandma at this age and still fighting.” Likewise, Talley’s daughter Thelma adds Talley’s long life “is something her grand children and great-grandchildren can be proud of, history for them to read about.”  Talley holds great-great grandson Armmell Holloway at home, May 13, 2014. Courtesy of Christonna Campbell  Talley pictured with her fishing buddy Michael Kinloch's family the day after Thanksgiving, November 29, 2013\. (L-R) Michael's youngest son and Talley's godson Tyler, Michael's wife Elaine, and Michael's oldest son Ramon and his fiancé Andrea (both doctors), and Michael. Courtesy of Michael Kinloch  Talley puts the bait on her fishing pole at the Spring Valley Trout Farm in Dexter, Michigan, May 25, 2013. Courtesy of Michael Kinloch  Talley with (L-R) the owners of Spring Valley Trout Farm in Dexter, Michigan, her friend Mary Kennedy, and her godson Tyler Kinloch, May 25, 2013. Courtesy of Michael Kinloch ### Photographing a Kiss: Long Time Love Affairs  Joseph and Dorothy Bolotin Sharon, Pennsylvania Married on June 16, 1938\. Dorothy, "I never think of it in terms of years. I think of it in terms of good years. In love, hot romance doesn’t last forever. So I would say that yes, I think love changes. I would say we’re still in love. It’s focusing, doing little things. He’s an amazing man." Lauren Fleishman  John and Sherma Campbell Star Valley, Wyoming Married on May 13, 1955\. Sherma, "When you start out, you think you love each other as much as you possibly can,but love grows—just like your inner self grows as time goes by and you have experiences.And now at this stage of the game, I love him even more. I can’t even imagine life without him." Lauren Fleishman  Jin Lin and Lai Mei Chen Brooklyn, New York Married on February 4, 1961\. Jin Lin, "We had so many things in common it was like our hearts were the same." Lauren Fleishman  de'Spagnolis Aldo de’Spagnolis and Maria Filiozzi Itri, Italy Married on October 23, 1949\. Aldo, "When I first saw her, she was 14 and I was 22.Was there a concern that she was too young for me? No! Even now I look like a young child! Yes, even now I’m still young." Lauren Fleishman  Jake and Mary Jacobs Solihull, England Married on April 27, 1948\. Mary,"Jake said to me,'Would it ever be possible for me to marry you?' And I said,'Possible but not probable!' And that’s how it was. It wasn’t likely that I would ever marry him, and he knew that. So when he went home to Trinidad, my mother and father breathed a sigh of relief. But he used to write, and he said, 'I’m thinking I might come back to England.'" Lauren Fleishman  Kissin Yevgeniy and Lyubov Kissin Brooklyn, New York Married on June 29, 1941\. Yevgeniy, "We met at a dancing party. It was in January 1938\. My friend invited me to the party, he said there would be a lot of beautiful young girls. Another cadet with high boots had approached her, but she didn’t like high boots and so she said no to him. I was the second one to approach her. I had a different uniform, but I’m still not sure if it was my uniform or my face that attracted her to me." Lauren Fleishman  Itig and Golda Pollac Brooklyn, New York Married on August 13, 1946\. Golda, "I would say love came little by little. Not right away.We were young.And he was older, but I liked him. He spoke to me in a very nice way." Lauren Fleishman  Yaakov and Mariya Shapirshetyn Brooklyn, New York Married on July 6, 1949\. Yaakov, "What is the secret to love? A secret is a secret, and I don’t reveal my secrets." Lauren Fleishman  Gino and Angie Terranova Staten Island. New York Married on September 27, 1947\. Angie, "You really don’t think about getting older. First of all, you’re aging together, and when you see a person constantly,you don’t notice big changes. Like you don’t notice, oh you’re getting a little wrinkle here and tomorrow you say it’s a little deeper. No, those are things that just happen." 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