WACO, Texas (KWKT) – The family of a Texas woman held a special get-together to celebrate her 107th birthday this week.
June Vera’s family traveled across the country to St. Anthony’s Care Center in Waco to celebrate her 107th trip around the sun.
Gifts, birthday cake, flowers and hand-written letters filled her room Wednesday as her family sang “Happy Birthday.”
“This has been so wonderful,” said Vera.
The centenarian was born on June 12, 1917, in Welch, Oklahoma, and grew up and raised her family in South Texas. She worked as a teacher for 20 years and as a secretary at her church.
After years of hard work, Vera says she’s still got it.
“I don’t feel my age. I’m incapable of doing a lot of things, but in my mind, I can still get up and sit in that chair, but they won’t let me,” said Vera.
Gus White, her only son of five children, said it’s amazing to see her every day.
“107 was probably out of range when we started thinking about how long mother might live, so this is a wonderful blessing. She is a phenomenal woman,” said White.
In her free time, Vera likes to do quilling and spend time with her family.
She says her secret to a long life is keeping God first.
“Talking to the Father in Heaven every day — many times a day — and doing what he says to do,” said Vera.
Vera said she plans to attend their next family reunion on Labor Day weekend.
Currently, 114-year-old Elizabeth Francis, of Houston, is the country’s oldest documented living person, according to rankings from the Gerontology Research Group. She’s the last living American born in the first decade of the 1900s, reported Nexstar’s KTXL.