Let’s give a round of a-paws to one woman who just celebrated her 108th birthday.
Ada Daniel has lived for over a century on this Earth and experienced some of history’s biggest moments.
Now, the native of England shares her secret for living longer: have pets instead of kids.
Daniel does not have children and always “preferred dogs to people,” her caretaker Kelly Goucher told South West News Service recently.
“I think that’s the same for a lot of people,” Goucher said. “She [doesn’t] really got a lot of family.”
Daniel has a great-nephew and a great-great-great niece that often come to visit her at her residence at Codnor Park Care Home in Derbyshire, according to Goucher. But it’s her dogs — she’s previously owned six greyhounds — that motivated Daniel throughout her long life.
Daniel, who is believed to be the 65th oldest person in the United Kingdom, has also said that “keeping busy” has helped her outlast the odds.
The Brit was born on June 1, 1915, amid the turmoil of World War I — and has lived through 23 prime ministers, five monarchs and survived many wars and two pandemics.
In 1944, at the age of 27, she married her husband, Perry. When he died at age 73, Daniel remained in the cottage home until recently when she moved to Codnor Park just five years ago.
She had celebrated her 105th birthday during the coronavirus lockdown back in 2020 and received an endless amount of love and bday cards from fans.
Goucher wanted to do something special this year for Daniel’s big day and wrote a Facebook post to well-wishers, asking them to send 108 cards to the elderly woman.
Goucher noted, “She’s literally been on about her birthday since April and she’s been on countdown to the big day.”
“We didn’t tell her we had made the appeal and the amount of messages we got was just through the roof,” Goucher explained.
Daniel received all 108 cards, plus about 200 more, and was “overwhelmed” by the affection.
Goucher and the residential home threw her a birthday bash to commemorate the special occasion, decorating the area with balloons, afternoon tea supplies and banners with the birthday girl’s portrait on display.