| Sarah Spires | |
 Spires on her 110th birthday in 2020 | |
| Birth: | 10 April 1910 Jackson County, Florida, USA |
| Death: | 10 January 2022 Marianna, Florida, USA |
| Age: | 111 years, 275 days |
| Country: |  USA
|
| Unvalidated | |
Sarah Purdee Spires (née Purdee; 10 April 1910 – 10 January 2022) was an American supercentenarian whose age is currently unvalidated by the Gerontology Research Group (GRG).
Biography[]
Spires was born in Jackson County, Florida, USA on 10 April 1910. Her parents were Armstrong Purdee, the first black lawyer of Jackson County, and Gracie (née White) Purdee. She was the last surviving child out of three siblings and an adopted sister. Her grandmother Francis White was a full-blooded Seminole Indian.
She was a graduate of the historic White’s Beauty School and would later become an LPN. She cared for newborns, worked in the Jackson Hospital delivery room and assisted surgeons in the operating room.
She married her husband Willie E. Spires on 19 February 1934. They had 10 children (three deceased as of April 2020). The couple grew a varied vegetable garden and also had farm animals. Her husband died in 1956.
A lifelong member of New Mt. Olive Baptist Church, Spires served there as a Sunday school teacher, deaconess, choir member, and as church clerk for 27 years. She also could be counted on to labor in her kitchen to prepare food for church events.
She celebrated her 110th birthday in April 2020. On 16 March 2021, aged 110, she got vaccinated against Covid-19, making her one of the oldest people to receive the vaccine.
Spires died in Marianna, Florida, USA on 10 January 2022 at the age of 111 years, 275 days. At the time of her death, she was the third-oldest known living person in Florida, after Ada Avila and Frances Pisano.
Gallery[]
References[]
- Armstrong Purdee Find A Grave
- Marriage Record FamilySearch
- 105th Birthday Celebration for Jackson County Centenarian Dothan Eagle, 17 April 2015
- 108th birthday Facebook Post, 10 April 2018
- 110th birthday Facebook Post, 10 April 2020
- Supercentenarian Sarah Purdee Spires celebrates 110th birthday Dothan Eagle, 18 April 2020
- 110-year-old gets Covid-19 shot in Marianna Dothan Eagle, 18 March 2021
- Birthday in style: Marianna woman celebrates 111th birthday with drive-by party WCTV, 11 April 2021
- Deaconess Mother Sarah Purdee Spires Obituary Legacy, 13 January 2022
- Sarah Purdee Spires dies at 111 Dothan Eagle, 19 January 2022