'Matriarch' celebrates century mark
Poised in a chair by her birthday cake, 100-year-old Ruth Booker presided as the matriarch over five generations of her family filling a church room Saturday afternoon.
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Ruth Booker celebrated her 100th birthday at First Baptist Church of Evans on Saturday.
Photo by Vicky Eckenrode
It was somewhat of a surprise party for Booker, who was born in Wrens, Ga., on April 12, 1904.
Her son, Ty Booker, told her hours before that friends and family members would be gathering at First Baptist Church of Evans for her party.
He said the news brought tears to Booker's eyes.
"I don't know how we kept it from her," Ty Booker said about the party.
In 2000, there were 50,454 centenarians in the United States, or one out of every 5,578 people, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
And during the past century, Ruth Booker has seen the world change vastly around her.
"I can remember the first car I ever saw," she said. "It was going by my house."
For 30 years, Mrs. Booker worked at the what is now the Carole Fabrics plant in Augusta and was a supervisor over the custom drapery work.
In the early 1920s, she married Jerry Dewitt Booker Sr., and after World War II, the couple moved to Hephzibah, where they ran a dairy farm.
When Mr. Booker died of a stroke, Mrs. Booker lived at the Mary Warren Home, a home for widows in the Summerville neighborhood in Augusta. The home is now closed.
At the age of 80, Mrs. Booker retired for a second time after serving 10 years as the home's matron.
She now lives with her son and daughter-in-law at their home in Evans.
Five generations of the Booker family gather at the birthday party of Ruth Booker (front left). With her are her 8-week-old great-great-grandson Daniel Drew (clockwise from left), her daughter-in-law Judy Booker, her son Ty Booker, her grandson Christopher Booker and her great-grandson Andrew Booker.
Photo by Vicky Eckenrode
Holding her great-great-grandson, 8-week-old Daniel Drew, and receiving a stream of well-wishes and happy birthdays Saturday, Mrs. Booker said there was no elusive formula for living a century.
No special diet, no magic pills, "nothing but work," she said.
Ty Booker said he thinks her secret was living a clean life.
"She didn't smoke, she didn't drink, she went to church," he said.