On Feb. 22, 1922, Congress authorized the Grant Memorial $1 coin, London issued a unilateral declaration of Egyptian independence and a baby girl, Ida Mae, was born to Elton and Lorene Porter in Gonzalez, Texas. Still as beautiful as the day she was born, a century later, this amazing woman is celebrating her 100th birthday!
After grade school, Ida attended Prairie View A&M University, where she obtained her cosmetology license. She then moved back to Gonzalez and started her own popular beauty salon - Ida’s Beauty Salon - which was built in her parent’s backyard by her father.
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She married Willie B. Lott and had her first son, Willie C. Lott, who became a Major in the United States Army and an architectural engineer for DuPont. He has since retired from both.
Later, she married Charles Ellison, also from Gonzalez, and gained a “bonus daughter,” Mary Richard. Together, they had a son, Carl Ellison, who is a mortician currently living in San Antonio.
A few years ago, Mrs. Ellison moved to Houston to live with her son Willie and his wife, Jereland Lott, after rehabbing from a fall.
She now lives independently at Mason Creek Transitional Care of Katy, where she enjoys bingo and talking with her friends.
On Tuesday, the new “centenarian” was surrounded by the amazing caregivers at Mason Creek, her fellow residents and loved ones as a grand party was thrown in her honor.
Everyone who knows her says the way this “sassy senior” handles herself, they are sure she has plenty more years to gift the world with.
What can we say, “Happy Birthday Ida Mae!”
We should all be so lucky to live a long and healthy life -- and with such fantastic hair!
Here are some more interesting things that happened in the year 1922.
May 30 - Lincoln Memorial dedicated
The Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C. was dedicated during May. The dedication ceremony was officiated by former U.S. President and Chief Justice of the Supreme Court William Howard Taft. Special guests at the ceremony including Robert Todd Lincoln (Abraham Lincoln’s son), Robert Morton (the President of the Tuskegee Institute), President Warren G. Harding, and Vice President Calvin Coolidge. The memorial was designed by Henry Bacon to resemble a Grecian-style temple complete with columns and a 19-foot-tall marble statue of Lincoln that was sculpted by Daniel Chester French.
February 5 - Reader’s Digest created
The first issue of Reader’s Digest magazine was published during February . The magazine was created by DeWitt Wallace and his wife Lila in New York. The initial run of the magazine was just 1,500 but it soon grew into one of the best-selling magazines in the United States. The purpose of Reader’s Digest was to publish shortened versions of articles on various topics of interest. By the 1930′s they began to publish original articles and by the end of the century they had a circulation in the millions and were distributed in over 15 languages around the world.
October 18 - British Broadcasting Company (BBC) is formed
The British Broadcasting Company (BBC) is formed on October 18 and financed by a Post Office license fee of 10 shillings, payable by anyone owning a radio receiver.
January 11 - First successful insulin treatment of diabetes in Canada
The first use of insulin as a diabetes treatment takes place during January in Toronto. The treatment was given to 14 year old diabetic Leonard Thompson who had been near death but had rapidly recovered after receiving the insulin shots, proving the treatment to be successful. The use of insulin to treat diabetes had been discovered during 1921 by Frederick Banting and Charles Best and had been administered in its first human trial with the help of John Macleod and Bertram Collip.
June 26 - King George V opens center court at Wimbledon
King George V Opens new concrete tennis stadium Center Court at Wimbledon. It is located at Church Road, Wimbledon, London, England. Wimbledon Center Court is home to the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club. Wimbledon is the only Grand Slam Tennis event still played on grass courts.