By Brandon O’Connor

When asked how old she is Emma Montgomery proudly declared, “1-0-9, one hundred and nine, nine o’clock done passed!” Born at 9 A.M. on December 8, 1906 Montgomery celebrated her 109th birthday yesterday with a party at Memorial Manor.

Montgomery was born in Miller County, but she has lived in Bainbridge for over sixty years where she lived alone until the age of 104.

Age has rendered her wheelchair bound, but it hasn’t dulled her mind or her spirit.

“Her mind is real sharp,“ her grandson Calvin Davis said. “A lot of things…I don’t even be understanding what she’s talking about…she can go all the way back there to when she was a little girl.”

She was the center of attention Tuesday afternoon as friends and family gathered to celebrate her birthday.

It was the second year in a row that Memorial manor threw a party to celebrate their old resident.

“She can keep you laughing,” Davis said. “Once she get into it she’ll keep you cracking up. I don’t know where she get all them jokes from. She’ll keep you laughing some kinda way. That’s the type of person she is. She brings a smile to peoples’ faces.”

The lone survivor from a family of nine children, Montgomery is currently the oldest resident of Decatur County.

Her only child, a daughter, is now deceased. She has three grandchildren, Davis, his sister Linda Frenchwood and the late Adolph Noble as well as eleven great-grandchildren.

“My grandmother raised me from the day I was born,” Davis said. “She raised my sister from when she was about three months old… She’s got family in Florida, Georgia, and Alabama. Scattered all around.”

An active member of the Mt. Zuma M.B. Church, Montgomery sang in the choir well into 90’s.

She’s been a person with great inspirations,” Davis said. “She’s been a dedicated person.”

Sitting by the Christmas tree in her Sunday best Montgomery spent time talking to those gathered to celebrate.

“I feel good,” she said. “If could just walk.”

“She’d walk right home,” her family added as they shared yet another joke.