BALTIMORE — Lois Herron, Sylvia Jones, Minnie Styles, Odessa Bass, and Elaine Jones.
Each of the women is between the ages 102 and 105.
They live in the Future Care facility in Baltimore, and Wednesday it held a Centenarian Gala as a birthday celebration for each of the women.
“It's very humbling to have even one centenarian in your building; it means you’re doing a pretty good job; people are trusting you, but to have five that's incredible," says Gary Attman.
As Kathleen Styles sat beside her mother, she says it's incredible to see all of the women and to honor them this way.
“It's exciting to be here; it’s just not usual that they celebrate the centenarians, but this is a very nice activity for the people here," says Kathleen Styles.
Gary Attman, President and CEO of Future Care, says it was important to have this gala because the women have lived through so many historical changes and some have done incredible things.
“They had a newspaper they’d get maybe once a week; now we have instantaneous updates on the internet, so air travel, medical care—everything has transformed over time; they could probably write volumes about their life experiences," says Attman.
WMAR asked about some life experiences, and Kathleen Styles says her mother, Minnie Styles, who is 102, is a mother to six children.
She says her mother loved singing in the choir at Saint Baptist Church.
“She was stopped by the cops for speeding, and he said, Miss, do you know that you are speeding and she said no, but I got to go to church, and he said we’ll just sign this paper and act like you’re signing a ticket," says Styles.
Lois Herron, who is also 102, was not the first in her family to pass 100 years old.
“She had an older sister who lived to be a couple of months past 100, and when her sister died, she said I'm going to outlive Elaine, and she has," says Barbra Herron.
Her daughter-in-law also says Herron was competitive all of her life, which even led her to be one of the first women to serve as a marine in World War II.
"Elaine, when she was old enough, she ran away and joined the army; well, well, Lois, when she was old enough, ran away and joined the marines because it was tougher," says Herron.
Not only did guests get to learn more about each of the women, all of the women were given proclamations from Governor Wes Moore and Mayor Brandon Scott in recognition of their long lives.
