This great-great grandmother in Fresno is not world’s oldest, but she just turned 107

Elvira Madrigal’s white hair was pulled back in a bun as she sat in a wheelchair at her home in Fresno getting emotional as she held a family photo from the early 1900s.

The 107-year-old great-great-grandmother from La Piedad in the Mexican state of Michoacán might not remember many things now, but she still remembers very clear the three people in the photograph – her parents and her grandmother.

“Don’t cry,” said Martha Ramírez to her paternal grandmother. Martha Ramírez said she was raised by Elvira Madrigal since very young and sees her as her own mother. Now Elvira lives with Martha who takes care of her.

“What are their names?” she asked Madrigal of the people in the photograph.

“Matilde and José,” responded Elvira in Spanish with a broken voice.

“And the lady?” asked Martha Ramírez.

“It’s Luz, the grandmother, it is my grandmother,” said Elvira Madrigal who was born on April 20, 1917. She kissed the photo several times.

Elvira asks Martha Ramírez if that was the only photo they have of her parents and grandmother.

“I just have that one. I have no other. I’m going to make it big for you,” Martha Ramírez said, adding that Elvira never forgets who the people in the photo are.

A long life

Not only does Elvira long for her parents but also for the town in her homeland and some of her grandchildren who still live there.

Elvira celebrated her 107th birthday with a birthday party on April 27 in Fresno which was attended by about 100 immediate family members – her three children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren- and great-great-grandchildren to commemorate the milestone.

Elvira has six children, has 29 grandchildren, 78 great-grandchildren and 23 great-great-grandchildren.

“She is the heart of the family. She is strong. She hasn’t given up. She is 107 and she’s still strong, she’s still going. She’s just nonstop, warrior. it’s amazing,” said Elvira’s granddaughter Sandra Miranda Ramírez.

Miranda Ramírez ‘s 80-year-old father Santiago Ramírez is one of Elvira’s six children and one of four who are still alive. Three of them like Santiago, living in the United States and one in México. Two of her children have passed away, including Martha Ramírez’s dad who died last year in México.

Martha Ramírez said Elvira, who is also a U.S citizen, has live most of her live in the United States since the early 70s, going back and forth between the two countries to visit her children.

While in México, Elvira lived in La Piedad while her children lived in the ranch. Elvira, who was a young widow, worked in the fields in México to provide for her six children as they were growing up.

“There is no one to take me,” said Elvira in Spanish when she heard the town’s name La Piedad.

While Elvira doesn’t have a secret to living a long life, her relatives said she likes shots of tequila or mezcal, like the one she had to celebrate her most recent birthday. Elvira doesn’t take any medicines, doesn’t have any illnesses, and likes to eat all kinds of food.

While Elvira relies on her wheelchair, she is able to walk assisted by a walker and her relatives to move from her wheelchair to bed.

A century of history

▪ She was born during the Mexican Revolution period between 1910 and 1920.

▪ There have been 22 presidents in México since she was born in 1917.

▪ She might witness the first female president of her homeland in a few months when the country holds elections.

▪ Since her birth in 1917 there have been 19 presidents in United States.

▪ The U.S. declared war against Germany in April 1917, that year and month of her birth.

▪ The U.S. Congress passes the Emergency Quota Act of 1921, which restricts the flow of Southern and Eastern Europeans into the country; Mexicans were excluded from quota requirements.

▪ The great depression spurs forced repatriation program for Mexicans and Mexican Americans relocating more than four hundred thousand people from Arizona, California and Texas to México.

▪ Harry S. Truman becomes the first U.S. president to visit México City, in 1947.

▪ The end of the Bracero temporary worker program in 1964 prompts hundreds of thousands of migrant workers to return to México.

▪ In September 1969, U.S. President Richard Nixon declares a global war on drugs.

▪ U.S. President George W. Bush takes office in January 2001 and calls Mexico the most important U.S. foreign policy priority.

▪ The September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks and subsequent war on terrorism define U.S. foreign policy for the next two decades.

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