The oldest person in the United States has just turned 116! According to the Gerontology Research Group, Edith “Edie” Recagno Keenan Ceccarelli, who lives in the small town of Willits in northern California, is the world’s second oldest person.On February 5, she marked another year around the sun. Every year, the town of Willits celebrates her birthday, and on Sunday, February 4, a procession was held to honor her 116 years of life.
According to planners and city officials who talked with USA TODAY, Ceccarelli is a treasured local treasure and a star, and her birthday procession is Willits’ greatest celebration of the year. The fire and police agencies, as well as a deputy mayor and a council member, will participate in the procession.
The Boy Scouts, a couple of horses, and a well-known local dog walker will all be present for the celebration.
Cars decorated with balloons, flags, placards, and streamers can pass Ceccarelli’s assisted living home, which is visible to both Willits residents and tourists visiting for the parade. “Every year at her birthday, we make sure she knows how special she is,” said Suzanne Picetti, the main parade organizer.In February 2023, Edith “Edie” Recagno Keenan Ceccarelli turned 115 in Willits, California.
According to Perla Gonzalez, one of Ceccarelli’s caregivers at the Holy Spirit Residential Care Home in Willits, Ceccarelli is most likely anticipating the carrot cake her family has ordered for Sunday. “She got very excited when she learned the cake would be carrot cake,” Gonzales recalled. “She said, ‘Oh really, honey?,’ and lit up.”
Ceccarelli ate cake and strawberry ice cream, two of her other favorite sweets, on Sunday about 11:30 a.m., according to Gonzalez, 51. “She’ll probably need to nap before the main celebrations start.”In past years, Ceccarelli distributed birthday treats to enormous crowds in downtown Willits. Due to COVID-19, the yearly event will be a drive-by parade beginning in 2021, according to Evelyn Persico, Ceccarelli’s cousin.
The car caravan is slated to begin this Sunday at 1 p.m., with Picetti, 62, estimating it will last about an hour. Rain is expected, so fewer people than in recent years may attend, she added. Every year, in December, the February event organizers begin planning. The Holy Spirit crew, family, and organizers have all confirmed that the march will take place rain or shine.
Friends even wrote to The Willits News, begging everyone to attend Ceccarelli’s 100th birthday celebration. Picetti further stated that Ceccarelli began inviting the entire community to join her in celebrating. “Her birthday, ever since she was 100 has always been a community thing, a public party,” she remarked. “It brings the community together to honor a very remarkable human being. It brings a lot of joy and happiness into our society.”
According to family and caretakers, Ceccarelli is no longer able to have a conversation or make phone calls like she used to. Even though she simply moved into an assisted living facility at the age of 107, she can still feed herself. Married to Lee Persico, Ceccarelli’s second cousin, Persico claimed to have always been a “people person” and a hard worker. Persico said she became close friends with Ceccarelli after retiring from a Willits bank.
“I just feel that she’s God’s chosen one to be on Earth for as long as she has been,” Persico told USA TODAY, noting Ceccarelli’s popularity in the area, particularly among Mendocino County historians.Family reports Cecilli was a lifelong Californian who was always a hard worker. She was born in Willits in 1908 and has spent her whole life in northern California, including stints in Eureka, Ukiah, and Santa Rosa.
Her family claims that her parents fled Italy in the early 1900s and relocated to Willits. Town clerk Delores Pedersen, 52, stated, “It’s really an honor for the city to have a person with the history she has, having been born and raised in Willits,” When Ceccarelli came in to pay her water bill, she had first met him nearly twenty years ago when she worked at city hall.
According to Persico, Ceccarelli is the oldest of seven children and has outlived all of them. According to Persico, as children, they all helped out by doing odd activities like digging potatoes in the valley and bringing money home to their parents.She observed, “Back in the day, it was all work, work, work,” recalling how Ceccarelli’s father built the house in which she was born in the early twentieth century.
“It was all hard labor back then; they walked everywhere, didn’t possess a car, and farmed their own food. You see these old movies, and you get a sense of how they lived.” According to Picetti, Ceccarelli rose to prominence in her later years for her sophisticated sense of style. She was known to walk about town in a hat, gloves, jewelry, and immaculate makeup far after the age of 100.
“Every day she would walk downtown, dressed to the nines, right down to the jewelry and the purse,” she said. The Santa Rosa Press Democrat, where Ceccarelli’s first husband worked, continued to be published. He was a typesetter. Persico added that Ceccarelli and her spouse have three grandchildren and a daughter together. As an adult, Ceccarelli enjoyed cooking, walking, dancing, and gardening. “She had a very happy, fruitful life,” Persico explained.
@mendocinocountyhistory She will be 116 on February 5, 2024 #cententarian #ediececcarelli #mendocinocounty #california #willits #history #fyp ♬ Stories 2 – Danilo Stankovic