Florence Morris turned 105 on August 16, 2009. On the afternoon of August 14, the centenarian celebrated her "triumph of longevity" with family and friends at the Carmichael headquarters of Eskaton, sponsors of the TLC Telephone Reassurance program, in which Morris is a participant. Eskaton's TLC Telephone Reassurance staff and volunteers, who hosted the event, contact more than 500 older adults like Morris every day, as a public service, to check on their well-being. Morris has been a participant for the past five years.
With this milestone birthday celebration, Morris was asked about her plans for the future, to which she humbly replied, "To live a better life." As she explains with histrionic detail; from the day she was born, August 16, 1904, in Many, Louisiana, her life was filled with "hard times…and harder living." She willingly confesses to drinking, smoking, speaking her mind and carrying a revolver "to get her point across" - that is until 1931 when she "found the Lord." Still, do not expect any sage advice about longevity from Morris, other than to live life to its fullest.
Mother Morris, as she prefers to be called, grew up on a farm, traveled extensively and today lives independently in a studio apartment in Carmichael. She has outlived her fourteen siblings, though she was the third oldest. Her one daughter has also passed away, but her ever-expanding family includes 9 grandchildren, 22 great-grandchildren, 28 great, great-grandchildren, and one great, great, great-grandchild. Joining Florence at the Eskaton celebration were her granddaughter, Doris Nolen, and a number of other family members.
With more than four decades of experience providing older, adult, community living and home-based support to thousands of Northern Californians, Eskaton thought it reasonable to trademark the title "Official Sponsor of Longevity." Home to more than two-dozen, healthy centenarians, the ratio of people aged 100 or older residing with Eskaton is nearly 50 times greater than in the U.S. population.