The California-based Gerontology Research Group keeps tabs on the world’s 90 known “supercentenarians” — those who are 110 years old or older — and can vouch for the fact that 111-year-old Mary Gentry, of Aliceville, is currently the 47th oldest person in the world.
Born Sept. 4, 1897, in Newville, Gentry grew up in a home with four brothers and one sister. She has outlived all her siblings and her husband.
Gentry attended a boarding school in Newton and Troy State Normal College (now Troy University). She taught public school in Hope Hull.
But Gentry is most proud of having taught 4-year-olds in Sunday School for 47 years, a ministry carried out at First Baptist Church, Montgomery, in Montgomery Baptist Association and First Baptist Church, Talladega, in Coosa River Baptist Association.
Although she no longer carries on conversations, Gentry awakens softly singing nursery rhymes and preschool songs most days.
“I guess the nursery rhymes are imbedded in her memory,” Dr. James Gentry Sr., her son, said. “Mother once told me you can’t sing to preschoolers ‘My Best Friend Is Jesus’ and not believe it yourself. Her underlying faith is what has kept her going. Mom believed in making the most of one day at a time.” (TAB)
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