Florida's oldest resident, 'Granny Plant,' dies at 111
By Associated Press
Published October 22, 2004
PENSACOLA - Florida's oldest resident, Eleanor Maebelle Barnes Gallops Plant, has died at 111.
Known as "Granny Plant," she was listed as the oldest person in Florida, ninth-oldest in the United States and 23rd in the world by the Gerontology Research Group.
Plant died Tuesday at her home in Pea Ridge, an unincorporated community nestled between Milton and Pace about 10 miles northeast of Pensacola.
She arrived in Santa Rosa County by covered wagon in 1911 with her parents and 10 siblings from Brantley, Ala.
"There is no particular secret to long life, but treating people right, working hard, staying active, living right and loving the Lord doesn't hurt," Plant said on her 109th birthday.
She outlived two husbands, all her siblings and six of her nine children. She survived colon cancer without chemotherapy or radiation and was cancer-free for 25 years.
Plant lived in Pea Ridge most of her adult life and was known for voting in every election since women were given that right in 1920.
Visitation and funeral services are set for Saturday at Pace Assembly of God.
