Mary Laughead was born on May 3rd, 1914. Yes, you are correct — if you do the math you will realize that she is 108 years old. Mary has spent the majority of her life living on the outskirts of the little village of Flat Rock, Illinois.

Just to put things into perspective for you here are just a few of the events Mary has witnessed first hand in her life. In 108 years of life she has seen WWI, The Great Depression, WWII, the first man to walk on the moon, Alaska and Hawaii becoming official states, and 19 different presidents. These are just a few of the major events that have happened in Mary’s lifetime that I’m sure she could tell you all about. A local event that she got to witness was the building of Route 1. She said that she heard explosions one day at their house and she later on found out that they were blowing a path for Route 1.

Even though Mary is 108 years old she was mowing her own yard up until she was 104 years old. Rick Alderson helped her mow her yard, and whenever he got into her side and mowed any of the yard she mowed, she was always getting onto him because she liked mowing. There is also a picture of her standing on the seat of that very mower at 104 washing the windows on her barn. Nothing has been able to stop Mary and she often says the reason she has lived so long is because she never stops going and she takes lots of naps. 

If you seek to hear more about Mary Laughead, you can find an interview with here.

https://www.mywabashvalley.com/community/illinois-woman-celebrates-her-108th-birthday/