A Nebraska woman believed by many to be the oldest living American has celebrated her 115th birthday.
The Omaha World-Herald reports Thelma Sutcliffe marked the occasion quietly on Friday at the facility in Omaha where she lives.
Sutcliffe was born Oct. 1, 1906, in Benson – now part of Omaha – where her parents owned a farm. At age 17, she married Bill Sutcliffe, who worked for the U-S Post Office.
He died in the early 1970s, so she is one of the rare people who was married for about a half-century and widowed for about a half-century.
The Gerontology Research Group says Sutcliffe became the nation’s oldest living person on April 17 when Hester Ford died in North Carolina at age 115.
The oldest person in the world is believed to be 118-year-old Kane Tanaka of Japan.