Julian Garrett
A woman in central Iowa is celebrating her 110th birthday today. State Senator Julian Garrett of Indianola offers some perspective on Tressa Bartholomew’s longevity. “When she was born Theodore Roosevelt was president of the United States,” Garrett says.
There were only 45 states in the union when Bartholomew was born in 1905. “She still lives in her own house in Carlisle and she’s fortunate she still has a lot of relatives that live in the area,” Garrett says. Bartholomew and her late husband had four children. “She now has 13 grandchildren, 29 great-grandchildren and 52 great-great-grandchildren,” Garrett says.
Garrett made mention of Bartholomew this afternoon during a special speech-making time in the Iowa Senate. “I just wanted to say, ‘Tressa, happy birthday and we hope you have a lot more of them,'” Garrett says. Now that she’s reached the age of 110, Bartholomew is classified as a “supercentenarian.” There are about 70 “supercentenarians” living in the U.S. today.
The oldest living American was born on July 4th, 1898, six years before Bartholomew. The Iowa Department on Aging does not keep an updated list of Iowa’s oldest residents.