Oklahoma family spans 6 generations with birth of great-great-great-granddaughter

A 107-year-old woman who welcomed her first great-great-great-granddaughter in October recently hosted six generations at her home in Durant near the Oklahoma-Texas border. Oleane Young Mulkey— who cooks three meals per day, and credits her longevity to an abstinence from smoking, drinking alcohol and daily prayers— has raised 12 children without ever learning to drive a car, Tulsa World reported.

“She still eats sausages and molasses every morning, and has near-perfect blood work,” Pat Gayle, Mulkey’s daughter, told Tulsa World. “She is her physician’s oldest patient.”

Although Mulkey has a pacemaker and takes medicine for high blood pressure, she still lives at home with a health aide. She has nine living children, 24 grandchildren, 37 great-grandchildren and Addison, her only great-great-great grandchild, according to the report.

“When she saw Addison, she kept saying ‘How precious— how precious,’” Janeva Maxson, Addison’s grandmother and Mulkey’s great-granddaughter, told Tulsa World. “I was helping her hold her, and she didn’t want me to take her away. It was such a joy to see.”

Gloria Helmuth, director of Centenarians of Oklahoma, told the news outlet that while there have been other six-generation families in the state before, Mulkey’s is believed to be the only current one.

“I think Mother has lived so long because she wants to live,” Gayle told Tulsa World. “She wants to keep up with all the relatives and looks forward to her next birthday.”

Mulkey’s late husband, Jonas, died in 1979, and up until recently she would host most of her children and grandchildren for lunch every Saturday. Longevity runs in Mulkey’s family, according to the news outlet, as her parents lived into their 90s and two aunts surpassed 100.