KATHLEEN Hayes Rollins Snavely has made history as the longest living person ever born on the island of Ireland.
Last night as the clock struck midnight US-based Kathleen surpassed the current record of 113 years and 37 days, held by Annie Scott of Dungannon, Co.Tyrone until her death in 1996 in Scotland.
Kathleen celebrated her 113th birthday last month, making her also the oldest Irish person alive today.
Kathleen’s life story is, of course, far richer and more meaningful than the number of days she has been alive.
Born in Feakle, Co. Clare on February 16, 1902, she immigrated to the US and settled in Syracuse, New York in 1921 at the age of 19.
She stayed with an uncle and found work – first at a state school for the developmentally disabled and then at a department store.
Love followed when she met her future husband, Roxie Rollins.
Though they both came from humble backgrounds, together they went on to found the hugely successful Seneca Dairy.
"We were very much in love,” she said. “It was the secret of our success."
Kathleen went leagues ahead of the expected roles for women in her day, taking a key part in the Dairy’s bookkeeping and finances.
Roxie died in 1968, at the age of 66. Kathleen married her second husband, Jesse Clark Snavely, Jr. from Lancaster, Pennsylvania , in 1970.
She survives him by a number of years and lived independently at a residential tower in Syracuse until past her 100th birthday.
In December, 2000, she made a gift of $1million to the Syracuse University School of Management, in memory of Roxie.
Kathleen, who relies on a wheelchair but is still sharp as a tack and extremely witty, celebrated her 113th birthday in February at the Centers at St. Camillus in Geddes, NY, where she resides.
It was an intimate event with close friends and acquaintances who feted Kathleen with a birthday cake, one of her favorite dinners, and her once a year Manhattan.
Last January, at 111 years and 328 days, Kathleen claimed the record for the Republic of Ireland, previously held by Katherine Plunkett (November 22, 1820 - October 1932), an Irish aristocrat born in Co. Louth who became a highly regarded botanical illustrator.
Yesterday she hit the record for the island of Ireland, held until now by Annie Isabella Scott, born on March 15, 1883.
Scott worked as a school teacher in Belfast, where she met and married her husband.
She was a widow for over half a century and spent the last decades of her life living with her children – first with her daughter in West Halifax, Yorkshire and then near her son in Reay, Scotland, where she passed away on April 21, 1996.
For her 110th birthday in 1993, Scott, then the longest living woman in Scotland, gave an interview extolling "moderation in everything” as the key. “Live well, help others, and have plenty of friends," she counseled.
Kathleen, however, is none too fond of being asked about the key to a long life.
"I get so tired of people asking me about my secret. I've got no secret," she said. "You live and you do it the best you can."
Her words of advice for doing just that? "You can't go through life thinking you're better than the other guy."
Article courtesy of IrishCentral - to read Kathleen’s life story click here
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