GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — A Grand Rapids woman celebrated her 107th birthday and rang in the new year on Jan. 1, 2020, at her nursing home with friends and family.
After nearly 11 decades of life experience, Ethel Evert said she has "too many" memorable moments in her life to pick just one that stands out to her, but they taught her to be independent.
"You have to make your own life by what you do, not what someone else does," she said.
Evert celebrated her birthday with friends, nurses, her daughter, Bonnie Evert, and Bonnie Evert's friend, Andrea Quillan, at her nursing home, Samaritas Senior Living of Grand Rapids.
Quillan said Ethel Evert is amazing. "She is still very much with it for her age," she said.
At 107 years old, Ethel Evert is nearly three times the median age of people in West Michigan in 2018, which is between 38.1 to 46 years old, according to the United States Census Bureau. The national median age in 2018 was 38.2 years old.
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