Amazing Decatur Woman Celebrates 111th Birthday

DECATUR, GA -- A woman who was born on a southwest Georgia plantation on March 11, 1908, is celebrating her 11th birthday. The granddaughter of a slave, Willie Mae Hardy was born in Junction City, Georgia, in Talbot County. Her family remained on the farm after the Emancipation Proclamation, but she moved to Atlanta in 1939 after the birth of her only child. There, she met and married Frank Harvey and became a member of the Butler Street Baptist Church, where she remains a member to this day.

Hardy moved to Decatur in 1966 after the sudden death of her son in law. She's lived there ever since, helping raise her seven grandchildren with her daughter, Cassie Nell, in their Decatur home. She worked as a housekeeper for more than 60 years before retiring in the 1980s.

In "I Am Decatur," a collection of stories from local residents, Hardy recalled life on the farm as hard, but despite a limited education, taught herself to read and write. One of her life's most horrifying moments came one night when the the Ku Klux Klan came to their family’s home and took away her cousin, Dan. She never saw him again.

Her secret to a long life, according to the website, is, ”Stay out of trouble, get a job, and if you do the right thing the Lord will bless you.”

"Regardless of her age, she remains to be a loving and caring grandmother, our family backbone, a dedicated church member and dear friend," one of her close friends told Fox5. Besides her one daughter, Hardy has seven grandchildren, 10 great-grandchildren, 30 great-great-grandchildren and four great-great-great-grandchildren.

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