Brooklyn’s oldest resident — and the third-oldest living human being on the planet — turned 115 this week.
Susannah Mushatte Jones — or Miss Susie — (inset) celebrated another milestone birthday on July 8 at the Vandalia Center on Vandalia Avenue, surrounded by family, friends, local electeds, and community leaders honoring her life and longevity.
“As we continue to celebrate her life each year, we are encouraged by the love that she continues to show to all,” said Paul Curiale, executive director of Millennium Development.
Jones, the oldest person in New York and second-oldest in the United States, was born in Alabama on July 6, 1899, and moved to New Jersey after graduating high school. Jones moved around a bit, working in Westchester County as a housekeeper before moving out west for a housekeeping job in Hollywood. She retired in New York in 1965 at the ripe old age of 66.
Jones has no children, but with 10 siblings, she has more than 100 nieces and nephews — many of whom attended the birthday bash — and she treats them like her own, sending thoughtful gifts that one of her nieces is planning to pass along to her own granddaughter someday.
“Once, she got me a sweater trimmed in white pearls,” said Lois Judge, Jones’s 74-year-old niece. “I’m saving that sweater for my granddaughter.”
Judge, who said her aunt gave her plenty of advice about school but none about dating, credits Jones’s long life to her clean living.
“She didn’t party, didn’t smoke, didn’t drink,” said Judge.
Jones’s lifestyle — and her looks — makes her an inspiration to the younger whippersnappers around the senior center.
“Miss Susie, I would love to be here looking as good as you,” said 98-year-old Rhoda Hunt, the next-oldest member of the senior center.