The longevity revolution in Philadelphia continues. Super-centenarian Ms. Willie Lassiter will be celebrating her 111th birthday in style on Friday, in the company of family, friends, and Philadelphia Mayor Michael A. Nutter.
Born on September 30, 1900, Ms. Lassiter has lived through economic depressions, segregation, world wars, and 20 of the 44 United States Presidents. She is the granddaughter of slaves and remembers when women and blacks couldn't vote. During the Great Depression, she stood in line to get rations of meat.
Ms. Lassiter has lived in West Philadelphia since she moved from North Carolina with her husband, Walter, in 1926. Walter died of leukemia fifty years ago, when she was 61.
She attributes her long life to the fact that she didn't drink or smoke, and her faith; she spent 70 years as a deaconess in her West Philly church. Ms. Lassiter isn't the only person in her family to live a long life; one of her brothers lived to be 100 years old.
| WHERE: |
Penn Center for Rehabilitation and Care
36th and Chestnut Street (on the northwest corner)
Philadelphia, PA 19104
|
| WHEN: |
Friday, September 30, 2011
10:00am
10:10am |
Singing “Happy Birthday” |
10:15 – 10:30 |
Birthday cake with 111 candles |
|
| WHO: |
- Ms. Willie Lassiter, Penn Center for Rehabilitation and Care resident
- Penn Center for Rehabilitation and Care staff and administrators
- Mayor Nutter
|
Penn Medicine is one of the world’s leading academic medical centers, dedicated to the related missions of medical education, biomedical research, excellence in patient care, and community service. The organization consists of the University of Pennsylvania Health System and Penn’s Raymond and Ruth Perelman School of Medicine, founded in 1765 as the nation’s first medical school.
The Perelman School of Medicine is consistently among the nation's top recipients of funding from the National Institutes of Health, with $550 million awarded in the 2022 fiscal year. Home to a proud history of “firsts” in medicine, Penn Medicine teams have pioneered discoveries and innovations that have shaped modern medicine, including recent breakthroughs such as CAR T cell therapy for cancer and the mRNA technology used in COVID-19 vaccines.
The University of Pennsylvania Health System’s patient care facilities stretch from the Susquehanna River in Pennsylvania to the New Jersey shore. These include the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, Penn Presbyterian Medical Center, Chester County Hospital, Lancaster General Health, Penn Medicine Princeton Health, and Pennsylvania Hospital—the nation’s first hospital, founded in 1751. Additional facilities and enterprises include Good Shepherd Penn Partners, Penn Medicine at Home, Lancaster Behavioral Health Hospital, and Princeton House Behavioral Health, among others.
Penn Medicine is an $11.1 billion enterprise powered by more than 49,000 talented faculty and staff.