Susie (Potts) Gibson was an American supercentenarian. At the time of her death, she was verified as the third oldest person in the world. She currently ranks among the top 25 verified longest lived people.
Susan "Susie" Elizabeth Potts was born 31 October 1889 in Corinth, Alcorn County, Mississippi to Joseph Pascal Potts and Mary Ellen Lynch.
She had three siblings: Henry Clay Potts, Ailene (or Alene) Potts, and Robert P. Potts. According to her obituary, Susie was the daughter of a banker.[1]
Susie Potts married James W. Gibson in 1915.[2] The couple had one child, James W. Gibson, Jr.
The 1900 US Federal Census places Susie Potts with her parents and siblings in Alcorn, Mississippi, as does the 1910 census. There is a discrepancy between the two censuses regarding her date of birth, with the 1900 census listing her as being 9 and the 1910 as being only 16. It should be noted that age data on census forms is notorious for its inaccuracy.
In 1920, Susie can be found listed as Susie Gibson in the Florence, Alabama city directory (which covered Florence, Sheffield, and Tuscumbia, Alabama) with her husband James W. Gibson. The entry is in oversized, bold print and identifies James Gibson as Sec-Treas (Secretary-Treasurer) Thompson Drug Co.
The 1920 through 1940 US Federal Census forms for Sheffield, Alabama have entries for Susie, her husband, and other family members. In 1920, the couple lived alone; in 1930 their 8-year-old son, James W. Gibson, Jr., lived with them, as did Susie's brother-in-law Wayne R. Gibson. In 1940, a beautician named Selma Hendryx lived as a boarder in their home and James Jr was misidentified as her son, despite the fact that she was only 8 years older than he.
An obituary published in SFGate reports that, at the time of her death, Susie was the youngest of three women living in the U.S. who were 115-years-old, and she died of natural causes. She was living in a Tuscumbia, Alabama nursing home, where she had been a resident for about 9 years; prior to that, she had lived alone.
Susie was laid to rest at Henry Cemetery, Corinth, Alcorn County, Mississippi, United States. [3]
Apparently the following was seen on a non-existed Find A Grave memorial that has been since taken down. An obituary published on Find A Grave reports that Susie credited her long life to her love of dill pickles. She claimed Sam Houston as her third cousin; ownership of a bed that had been his, which she considered a prized possession; and to have ridden on a train with former first lady Eleanor Roosevelt.
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Categories: Supercentenarians