Tara Parker-Pope
Published: November 5, 2008
The New York Times
In his victory speech, President-elect Barack Obama framed the remarkable events of America’s recent past through the life of 106-year-old voter Ann Nixon Cooper.
She was “born just a generation past slavery” he noted in the stirring speech . “And this year, in this election, she touched her finger to a screen and cast her vote, because after 106 years in America, through the best of times and the darkest of hours, she knows how America can change.”
CNN’s Web site profiled Ms. Cooper last month during early voting in Georgia. In a wheelchair and with the help of two caretakers, Ms. Cooper bypassed the long lines of early voters and headed right to the voting machine, CNN reported.
Ms. Cooper danced the electric slide up until the age of 103, but she has recently slowed down after suffering several heart attacks and a fractured hip. Three of her four children have died, and her surviving daughter is 83. She has 14 grandchildren living and many great-grandchildren and even great-great-grandchildren, according to CNN.
The cable network asked her about the secret to her longevity.
“I ain’t got time to die,” she said. “I don’t know how it happened, but being cheerful had a lot to do with it. I’ve always been a happy person, a giggling person — a wide-mouthed person!”
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