A 100-year-old woman sees ocean for the first time when the assisted living center where she lives partnered up with an organization that grants wishes to the elderly. Ruby Holt, the cotton-picking farmer who sees ocean for the first time, had the experience during an all-expenses-paid trip to the Gulf of Mexico.
For over a century, Holt has been spending most of her life living and working on a farm in rural Tennessee. The 100-year-old woman who saw the ocean for the first time recently lived as a farmer picking cotton and a mother raising four children.
Because of her responsibilities, she never had the time or money to see a beach, the Associated Press reports.
Fortunately, with the partnership, that finally changed and the 100-year-old woman sees ocean for the first time this month and just reportedly a few weeks from the centenarian's 101st birthday.
Seeing the ocean for the first time, the100-year-old woman laughed and grinned, feeling the cold waters of the Gulf hit her feet for the first time. She also managed to walk across the white sand with the help of aides from the home.
After the 100-year-old woman sees ocean for the first time, she said she had never seen anything as big as the ocean before.
Despite repeating over and over that "It's cold" because of the chilly November climate, she appeared genuinely happy.
"I've heard people talk about it and how wonderful it was and wanted to see it, but I never had the opportunity to do so," Holt said.
Made possible through the partnership of "Brookdale Senior Living Solutions," where Holt currently resides in Columbia, Tenn., and the "Wish of a Lifetime organization," the trip where the 100-year-old woman sees ocean for the first time had been a heartwarming moment for Holt and those who made the experience possible.
Before to the 100-year-old woman sees ocean for the first time, Holt told the Colombia Daily Herald that she and her husband never got to make a trip to the beach since they were always too busy on the farm or were working in a shirt factory to be able to travel. Holt added that her farming family never afforded a trip to the coast and that she has left Tennessee only once before.
"There was always something to do," she said. "We didn't travel much."
"I am thrilled to death over it. I know I will enjoy it," said the Executive Director of Brookdale's Sterling House, Mark Davis, before the 100-year-old woman sees ocean for the first time.
He added that two workers filled out the application for Holt upon learning that she had never seen the ocean and had wanted to go.
"They did a water gun fight out in the courtyard during the summer and water got brought up, the beach, and that's what she told the girls, that she had never been," he said.
The two workers who filled out the application were Debbie Surgeon and Tracy Marcy helped. Holt's wish was finally granted in early November. Arrangements had also been made for her stay in the Perdido Beach Resort.
The trip was soon planned since Holt is to turn 101 on December 13.
"When we got to the room yesterday she was just pointing out the ocean and, you know, her facial expressions and ... she was just speechless," said Davis.
The Alabama coast trip where the 100-year-old woman sees ocean for the first time was the farthest the centenarian ventured out from her native Giles County, about 400 miles north of the Gulf.
Holt used a motorized wheelchair which had been donated. It had fat tires for rolling over sand. Apart from seeing the ocean for the first time, the old woman was able to stand at the edge of the water and feel the sand with the help of Surgeon and Marcy.
"We got you, hon," Surgeon said. "We're not going to let you fall."
As the 100-year-old woman sees ocean for the first time, she cackled, happy to be finally standing over the seawater. However, she tired quickly because of her age, and with the temperature being around 50 degrees, she was soon eager to head back inside her room. In the end though, it was a most memorable experience for Holt who said, "We don't have nothing like this in Giles County."
This article is copyrighted by Travelers Today, the travel news leader
