Middletown woman’s secret for living 104 years? God’s love, she says

Maneva Williams didn't live through the Civil War. She's not that old.

But the Middletown woman turns 104 Monday, and at her birthday party Saturday at the Trenton Nazarene Church, she was asked the biggest advancement she has experienced. Technology, she said.

She remembers her grandmother, while standing at the back door of her home in Dover, Tenn., talking about how news spread in 1865 when the Civil War ended. They lived five miles from a Civil War battlefield.

Williams was told neighbors rang their dinner bells to signal the end of the war.

Fast-forward to a few years ago. When Williams’ great-granddaughter graduated from college in New Mexico, she watched the ceremony live on a computer.

From a bell to a Dell.

“That’s how far we have come,” the 104-year-old said.

Williams, her family and friends and her doctor certainly never expected her to live this long. About two years ago, when Williams’ health deteriorated, her family doctor notified Hospice Care of Middletown, said her daughter, Sandy VanCleave, 69, of Trenton. They figured Williams would live six more months.

But since then, she has celebrated her 103rd and 104th birthdays.

“She is a great example of hospice enriching one’s last days,” said Judy Vincent, volunteer coordinator at Hospice Care of Middletown. “So many think of hospice as giving up hope. We feel it is enriching the life that we have left to live.”

At her birthday party, Williams smiled, praised the entire hospice staff, and said: “They just won’t let me die. Every time I get a little bit bad, there’s a helper right there for me.”

Initially, VanCleave wasn’t sure how to tell her mother about hospice. She didn’t want her to quit living.

Now, her daughter said, her mother “takes it as a challenge.”

When asked the key to being born in 1913 and seeing the inauguration of 19 U.S. presidents — from William H. Taft in 1913 to Donald Trump this year — she gave all credit to God.

“Agape love,” she said. “What the world needs to know is God’s love. He’s the boss of us all. If everybody had agape love, it would be heaven here on earth.”

Two years ago, VanCleave took her mother to Amish country in Berlin, Ohio. While dining, her mother noticed she had caught the eye of someone in the restaurant. She couldn’t resist the opportunity to reveal her age. She never does.

“I’m eating a lot for a 102-year-old woman,” Williams told the strangers. “My family called hospice and they thought I was going to die. I fooled them.”

Her aide, Angie Settle, who attended the birthday party, added: “She has proved us wrong time and time again.”

She was described as “a tough lady” by her daughter.

Hospice social worker Jeaneen Rausch and nurse Sarah See praised Williams for her wit and mind, both sharp.

Williams and her husband, Oscar, moved to Middletown from Tennessee looking for work. He worked for a Middletown paper mill, then retired as a city bus driver. He died about 40 years ago. They have two daughters, VanCleave and Jeanette Fields, 79, and 14 grandchildren.

So how long does Williams want to live? As long as she isn’t burdening others, she said.

When she feels that way, she says: “Lord take me home.”

About the Author