Mecklenburg County honors 116-year-old Charlotte woman, naming day after her

Sept. 1 is Mother Hester McCardell Ford Day, the Mecklenburg County Board of Commissioners declared Tuesday.

[Charlotte woman celebrates 116th birthday as oldest living American]

McCardell, 116, of Charlotte, is believed to be the oldest living American.

She has 12 children, 48 grandchildren, 108 great-grandchildren and 120 great-great-grandchildren.

Ford was born in Lancaster County on Aug. 15, 1904 and has been living in a Charlotte home for 59 years.

She has been a longtime member of Macedonia Baptist Church.

COVID-19 is the second pandemic she has lived through. The first one was in 1918 when influenza gripped the earth during World War I.

Charlotte Mayor Vi Lyles named Ford’s birthday, Aug. 15, “Mother Hester Ford Day.”

Charlotte woman celebrates 116th birthday as oldest living American

Cox Media Group