Besse Cooper, the world's oldest person, turned 116 on Sunday — only the eighth person in the world documented to reach that milestone. One birthday present she received: a bridge named in her honor in Monroe, Ga., where she lives.
Certified the oldest living person by the Guinness Book of World Records, Cooper lived and taught in the town of Between, a few miles from the bridge that will bear her name, according to a report in the Walton Tribune.
The Walton County Board of Commissioners dedicated the new bridge over the Alcovy River to Cooper on Friday.
Cooper, who lives in a nursing home, was unable to attend the ceremony but family members said she smiled when told about the honor.
"She acknowledged it and seemed to be pleased," Sidney Cooper, her son, told the Tribune. "We're all very pleased by it. We think it's really great and we are very appreciative to the county for it."
Besse Cooper was born Aug. 26, 1896, in Tennessee, but moved to Walton County during World War I to teach because teachers in Georgia made more money, her son previously told the AJC. She married her husband Luther in 1924 and stopped teaching school when she had her first child at age 33. Luther Cooper died in 1963.
In addition to her four children, Besse Cooper has 12 grandchildren and more than a dozen great-grandchildren and great-great-grandchildren.
Cooper's family credits her lifestyle and genes for her longevity. She put it this way back when she turned 113: "I mind my own business and I don't eat junk food."
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