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Berkeley Celebrates 110-Year-Old’s Birthday With Car Caravan


Wednesday, March 17, 2021 || By Michael Romain || @maywoodnews 

On Wednesday afternoon, Berkeley firefighters, police officers and village officials, including Berkeley Village Administrator Rudy Espiritu, gathered in front of a home on the 1500 block of Victoria.

The special occasion, marked by flashing police and fire lights, was the 110th birthday of Alice Thompson, who watched the festivities, which included Berkeley village employees singing “Happy Birthday,” from her living room window.

Thompson lives in Berkeley with her youngest daughter, Dorothea Hayes Graham.

Ellis Thompson, who turned 110 on March 17, looks from the living room window of her Berkeley home as passersby pay tribute. | Michael Romain 

“She was born in Flora, Miss., on March 17, 1911,” said Sheila Thompson, her daughter-in-law (“really her daughter, because you lose the ‘in-law’ after a while”).

“She’s the mother of 10 children,” Thompson said. “Four of them are still living. She came to Chicago in 1955 and lived in Chicago up until about the last 20 years. She lived in Oak Park for about 10 years and has been living out here in Berkeley for about 10 years.”

Thompson’s husband, Jerome Thompson, 68, said he lives just five minutes away from his mother.

“I come over here Sundays to bring breakfast,” he said. “I take care of her when my sister goes to church.”

As Allis looked out of the window, Sheila Thompson mused about her long life.

“She loves the Lord, she eats good, she sleeps pretty good, she loves family and she loves friends,” Sheila said. “She’s also healthy. She just had her coronavirus vaccine shot. She’s pretty much physically confined to a chair, but she gets up and maneuvers when she needs to.”

See more on the celebration on Berkeley’s Facebook page here.

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