Audrey Harrison just turned 110 years old, and Oklahoma City threw her a party to prove it. The milestone, confirmed this week by the organization that tracks the world's oldest verified people, places the former Texas state government aide among a vanishingly small group of Americans who have lived past the century mark by an entire decade more.
Harrison's age claim was officially validated on Monday by the Gerontology Research Group, according to the Gerontology Research Group. She was born Audrey Irene Harrison, née LeFors, on October 11, 1916, in Wise County, Texas, before later relocating to Oklahoma. As reported by KOCO, Oklahoma City celebrated her birthday, and Mayor David Holt shared pictures from the party and posted birthday congratulations to Harrison on Facebook.
An Early Achievement
She graduated as valedictorian of her high school class, according to LongeviQuest.
Her 110th birthday was celebrated in Oklahoma City.
How Rare Is Living Past 110?
Centenarians of Oklahoma, a nonprofit volunteer organization founded in 1991, estimates there are between 400 and 500 centenarians living statewide and has honored nearly 3,300 centenarians since its founding.
Reaching 110, however, puts Harrison in far rarer company than the state's centenarian ranks suggest. The Gerontology Research Group's online database shows fewer than 215 age-validated supercentenarians worldwide, and identifies a 117-year-old woman from England as the oldest known person alive, according to KOCO. That scarcity underscores just how exceptional Harrison's milestone is, even among a growing population of Americans living past 100.
A Broader Surge in American Longevity
United Nations projections estimate nearly 4 million centenarians worldwide by 2054. Against that backdrop, Harrison's leap from the centenarian ranks into the rare supercentenarian tier stands out as something closer to statistical anomaly than trend.
