You can help a Georgia woman celebrate turning 105. All it takes is a birthday card
A Georgia woman’s family can’t throw her the blowout 105th birthday party they’ve been looking forward to, so they’re asking people around the world to send birthday cards to help celebrate.
Helen Mangham was born on August 2, 1915. Woodrow Wilson was president and America had not yet entered World War I. In 2020, she still lives on her own in Lifsey Springs, a rural area in Pike County, about an hour south of Atlanta.
She’s well-known and loved in the community and her granddaughter said the family was planning to celebrate with a reception with more than 100 guests.
“Due to Covid-19 this year, we’re having to do things a little differently,” Pam Vickers told CNN. They’re now planning a smaller gathering with just the immediate family.
Mangham loves to read her Bible and watch TV and she enjoys getting mail, so the cards will be a treat, her granddaughter said.
“Even when she gets just a few cards for Christmas or her birthdays in the past, it has just made her so happy,” Vickers said. “So I wanted to try to reach out to the world, actually, and just see how many cards we could get for her.”
Vickers is asking people to send birthday cards to her, so the family can surprise her grandmother with all the cards and messages on the big day.
The address is 257 Wallie Road, Molena, Georgia, 30258, if you’d like to send a card.
Vickers says her grandmother gets around pretty well and mowed her own yard until she was in her 80s. These days, Vickers cooks meals for her grandmother and Vickers’ father — Mangham’s 85-year-old son — heats them up for her and takes care of things around the house.
“She’s not on any medication, she doesn’t take anything,” Vickers said. “She’s, I guess, as healthy as a 105-year-old can be.”
Her grandmother credits trusting God and living by the Bible for her long life, Vickers said.
Mangham’s mother and grandmothers lived into their 90s and her sisters are still going strong at 103, 101 and 94 years old. Her brother was in his 90s when he died a few years ago.
The siblings earned a Guinness World Record for their longevity in 2016.
They’re expecting five generations of the family at the party, but Vickers says she lives on 20 acres of land, so they’ll be plenty of room to social distance. And there’s a nice air-conditioned spot to protect her grandmother from the Georgia heat.
