Brooklyn Tree Grows in Memory of Miss Susie, World's Oldest (and Coolest) Person

Photo courtesy of NYCHA

By Kings County Politics News Service

STARRETT CITY, BROOKLYN — East New York-area elected officials, joined by New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) Chair and CEO Shola Olatoye, planted a tree Wednesday on the grounds of the city's public Vandalia Senior Center to honor the life of Susannah “Miss Susie” Mushatt Jones (July 6, 1899—May 12, 2016).

Before Miss Susie died this past spring at 116 years old, she held the record as the world’s oldest living person and the last living American born in the 19th Century.

She spent the last 30 years of her life as a well-loved resident of the Vandalia Houses and senior center, located at the north end of Starrett City near New Lots and East New York.

Also on hand for the tree planting were State Senator Roxanne Persaud, Assemblyman Charles Barron and City Councilwoman Inez Barron.

“Armed with a humanistic spirit, imbued with a sense of compassion, and comforted by a loving family, Susannah Mushatt Jones leaves behind a legacy which will long endure the passage of time and will remain as a comforting memory to all she served and befriended,” Persaud wrote in a Senate resolution that she produced for the event.

“In her 116 years, Miss Susie lived a chronicle of American history, from her birth in 1899 to tenant farmers in Jim Crow-era Alabama to voting for the first black president of the United States, twice," Adams said. "This tree will continue to remind residents of the Vandalia Senior Center and throughout East New York of her kindness and generosity of spirit."

Miss Susie was born in Alabama and later moved to New York. She worked as a housekeeper and nanny for many families, helped send nieces to college with her salary and funded The Calhoun Club, a college scholarship for African-American students.

In 1983, Miss Susie moved into the Vandalia Houses in the East New York area. She participated in the local “tenant patrol team” until she was 106.

Miss Susie eventually became the oldest living person in New York, then the oldest living person in the United States. (At which point she received a birthday letter from President Obama, which hung on her wall.) And finally, last year, Guinness World Records officially declared Miss Susie the world’s oldest person — a feat she attributed to a lack of vices and a lot of love, positive energy and sleep.

She famously had a sign in her kitchen that read “Bacon makes everything better," and claimed to eat four strips of bacon with a side of eggs and grits each day.

Miss Susie passed away two months shy of her 117th birthday, and is survived by more than 100 nieces, nephews and godchildren.

A version of this article originally appeared on the Kings County Politics news site