Her Day, 107 Years in the Making

At 107 years old, Flossie Brown knows the secret to a long life: “Well . . . you don’t go out and get drunk every night,” joked Brown.

On Wednesday a Santa Ana official presented Brown with a plaque for what will be the remarkable achievement of living in three centuries, come Jan.1. Across the nation in Wilmington, Del.--her hometown for about 100 years--Wednesday was “Flossie Brown Day.”

Surrounded by family and friends, Brown celebrated her birthday at the Santa Ana Medical Center--even though she’s not a patient there. It’s a place she doesn’t visit often “because she’s always in good health,” said her family physician, Veronica Whelan. “She’s got a great sense of humor and she’s got wonderful family support.”

The good-humored and somewhat feisty centenarian had her first--yes, first--hospital stay last April to remove gallstones. Brown attributes her longevity to clean living and a strong faith in God.

“The good Lord takes care of all people and I’m just one of them,” Brown said.

Brown was born in Bridgeville, Del. in 1892 and married Felix Brown in 1911. Her grandson Thomas Smith recalls Brown’s stories about their courtship, during which Felix took her for rides in his horse and buggy.

Felix, a general contractor, died in 1965, leaving Flossie the head of a family of five. At present, Flossie still has her five children, 15 grandchildren, 47 great grandchildren, 96 great-great grandchildren and 31 great-great-great grandchildren.

Tears welled in Brown’s eyes as she looked back over the years and reminisced about her husband and extended family. She quickly regained her composure with another joke: “Sometimes I just say, ‘Where in the world did they all come from?’ ”

Relatively new to Santa Ana, Brown says California is “all right, I guess. But things out here move a little too fast for me.”

Strong and independent, Brown lived by herself in Delaware until she was 104 and made daily bus excursions to shopping and senior activity centers until she was 103. Brown moved to Santa Ana recently to live with her grandson Smith and her daughters Viola Smith and Claretta Kent.

Brown said she isn’t too impressed by all the millennium excitement.

“People are making too much fuss over something that’s really nothing,” Brown says. “And they’re making trouble, trouble, trouble.”

Smith said that Brown doesn’t like watching the news and prefers watching Christian programming. “She says she’s seen so much in her life; some things that are good and some that are not,” Smith said, “but that either way the world has made a big change.”

Brown said she enjoyed her birthday celebration and is looking forward to her 120th. “It’s wonderful,” Brown said. “I wasn’t even thinking there would be all this . . . I am happy, happy, happy, happy.”

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Chris Ceballos can be reached at (714) 066-7440