Southwest
Texas woman turns 115, making her the oldest living person in the US
A Houston, Texas, woman who turned 115 last month is now the oldest living person in the United States.
“She will tell you it’s by the grace of God,” her granddaughter Ethel Harrison, 69, also of Houston, told Fox News Digital.
“That’s how she made it so long. She is very spiritual.”
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Elizabeth Francis was the second-oldest person in the U.S. until the previous longevity record holder Edie Ceccarelli, 116, of Mendocino County, California, died on Feb. 22.
Elizabeth Francis, 115, of Houston, Texas, is now the oldest living person in the United States and the fourth-oldest documented person living in the world. (Ethel Harrison)
Francis is also the fourth-oldest living person in the world — according to the Gerontology Research Group (GRT), a Los Angeles-based global social science institution of researchers in gerontology, human longevity, public health and demography.
“Supercentenarians” are folks who have lived more than 110 years. While there are more than 97,000 people in the United States who are classified as centenarians, there are far fewer supercentenarians, according to data from the World Economic Forum, a nonprofit research institute based in Switzerland.
Francis lives at home with her daughter, Dorothy Williams, who is 95.
The two have several caregivers, including Harrison.
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Francis always believed in the loyalty of family and taking care of her own, Harrison said.
Ben Myers (pictured far right) of LongeviQuest, a global research organization that tracks human longevity, gathers with Elizabeth Francis’ family members and presents her award as the oldest living American in the U.S. (Ethel Harrison)
“She was a caregiver herself,” Harrison said.
“She actually took care of her dad until he passed at the age of 99. And then she had a sister come live with her. She always said, ‘Treat people like you want to be treated.’ That was her motto and we’ve always kind of lived by that.”
Ben Meyers is CEO of LongeviQuest, a global research organization that tracks and studies human longevity.
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“There’s a lot of interest recently in longevity and also aging,” Meyers said.
Ben Meyers, CEO of LongeviQuest, a global research organization that tracks and studies human longevity, said many of those he works with over the age of 100 have a strong sense of faith. (Ben Meyers)
“How to take care of people, live good, fulfilling lives. There’s really no better role model than supercentenarians. They’re very interesting — their histories, their philosophies,” he added.
“And there are folks who are interested in learning the secrets of longevity … trying to come up with formulas. But the only ones we know who are successful at aging to the maximum degree are supercentenarians. We call them the Olympians of aging. Ms. Francis is a great example.”
Meyers visited Francis and her family earlier this year to present her with an award to recognize her as the oldest living American in the U.S.
“One thing that she really is an example of more than almost anybody else I’ve met is just family and community,” he said.
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“She lives at home, and she’s the oldest person in the world to live at home. It’s really pretty extraordinary. Also, the community that she has through her church. So there [are] really active families and communities. It’s very difficult for people to reach that age in isolation,” Meyers added.
Francis is now officially the oldest living person in America after her 115th birthday last month. (Ethel Harrison)
Born in Louisiana on July 25, 1909, Francis has lived through two world wars and now two global pandemics.
She never drove a car, but she worked outside the home, running the coffee shop at a TV station in Houston during the 1970s and 80s.
Francis has three grandchildren, five great-grandchildren and four great-great-grandchildren.
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Harrison said her grandmother’s main focus has always been on her family and her faith.
“If we had a gathering, whether a party or a graduation, she was always there,” Harrison said.
Last year, Francis and her family celebrated her 114th birthday. (Ethel Harrison)
Francis only attended one church, which she’s still a member of, Good Hope Missionary Baptist Church, which was established in 1872.
“Pastor Cofield and the members still come out to the home,” Harrison said.
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Francis attributes her long life to her faith and still watches her church on television since she cannot attend in person. (Ethel Harrison)
“They come to visit and bring communion,” Harrison said. “She is still an active member even though she is not able to attend church. We watch on television.”
Meyers said the supercentenarians he interviews have a strong sense of faith.
“Ms. Francis gives 100 percent of the credit for her longevity to God,” Meyers said.
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Francis has three grandchildren, five great-grandchildren and four great-great-grandchildren — all of whom were at her 114th birthday celebration last year. (Ethel Harrison)
Another characteristic Francis exemplifies, Meyer said, is “total fortitude.”
“Not letting herself get distracted by things that are outside of her control,” he said.
“She is really focused on her world. I’ve asked her about the events she lived through and her answers are quite blasé. Every event, good or bad, kind of rolled off her sleeve because she focused on her world day to day.”
Harrison said that although Francis is no longer a big talker, an old hymn definitely catches her grandmother’s attention and she enjoys singing along.
Francis is reportedly only one of 68 people who have reached the age of 115 and 25 of the longest-living Americans in history. (Ethel Harrison)
Francis always had a love for gardening and sharing vegetables with others.
“She believed in cooking her own healthy food and working hard — ‘Just work hard,’ she said. And that’s what we did.”
Francis is one of only 68 people known to have reached the age of 115, and she is among the 25 longest-lived people in American history, according to LongeviQuest.
Last year, when asked what she attributes her long life to, Francis told Fox News Digital, “Just the Lord working with me and keeping me here.”
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The family of Brianna Aguilera, the Texas A&M student who fell to her death from a high-rise apartment in November, is suing two organizations for allegedly overserving alcohol ahead of the 19-year-old’s death.
Attorney Tony Buzbee on Tuesday announced a $1 million wrongful death lawsuit was filed in Travis County against the Austin Blacks Rugby Club and the UT Economics and Business Association.
“It is illegal to serve minors any amount of alcohol in the State of Texas. It is reckless and irresponsible to grossly over-serve a group of minors at a University of Texas football tailgate to the point where those minors lose their physical faculties and ability to control themselves,” the lawsuit states.
Aguilera died when she fell from an Austin high-rise apartment following a Texas A&M vs. University of Texas football tailgate at around 1 a.m. Nov. 29, according to police.
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An image provided by the family of the young Texas A&M student, Brianna Aguilera, found dead in Austin over the weekend. (GoFundMe)
A police investigation later determined Aguilera died by suicide despite her family’s claims that she was killed.
Brianna Aguilera was found dead in an apartment hours after attending a tailgate party. (Facebook/Brie Aguilera)
According to the filing, the alleged “egregious over-serving of minors” led to Aguilera’s death. Witnesses described her behavior over several hours as “shifting from upbeat to disoriented and ultimately grossly intoxicated,” the suit says.
Brianna Aguilera holds a sign congratulating her on her acceptance to Texas A&M. (Instagram/brie.aguilera)
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Buzbee said the lawsuit is also intended to support the ongoing investigation into the events of that night by allowing the firm to seek phone and text records, documents and data and to compel witness testimony.
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The lawsuit requests a jury trial.
Fox News Digital’s Julia Bonavita contributed to this report.
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Nobody handles oil quite like Texas and a fresh supply of Venezuelan crude could soon be headed to the Lone Star State’s coast.
The first barrels of thick, tar-like crude could arrive as soon as next week at ports across Texas, Louisiana and Mississippi, where dense clusters of refineries are built and bred to process heavy oil.
The development follows President Donald Trump’s Tuesday evening announcement that Caracas will transfer up to 50 million barrels of oil to the U.S., worth about $2.8 billion at current market prices.
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Venezuelan children swimming near an oil tanker docked at a pier near the refinery of the state oil company PDVSA. (Jesus Vargas/picture alliance/Getty Images)
“The Gulf Coast concentrates most of our refining capacity, and those refineries were built or revamped over the years to process extra-heavy crude similar to what is produced in Venezuela,” explained Jaime Brito, executive director of refining and oil products at OPIS.
“From a market perspective, additional volumes of extra-heavy crude entering the U.S. refining system would be an extraordinarily positive development,” Brito said. “It would allow refiners to operate more efficiently, something they haven’t been able to do for years and could help keep gasoline and diesel prices at better levels because refiners would have access to cheaper crude and more optimal operations.”
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He added that tankers could arrive within five to six days if they leave Venezuelan waters on Thursday.
Because Gulf Coast refineries supply a large share of the nation’s fuel, shifts in how efficiently they operate can ultimately ripple through to prices paid by U.S. consumers.
Texas oil refineries are poised to benefit from additional crude oil supplies. (Brandon Bell/Getty Images)
The arrival of 15 to 25 oil tankers carrying up to 50 million barrels of crude is only a fraction of what Venezuela could ultimately supply.
With more than 300 billion barrels of proven reserves, it holds the world’s largest oil endowment — eclipsing long-standing energy heavyweights like Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Kuwait.
Despite its vast reserves, U.S. sanctions have effectively blocked most Venezuelan crude from reaching the U.S. Gulf Coast, leaving Chevron — operating under a special authorization — as the sole exporter of limited volumes.
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A Chevron Corp. flag flies on the drilling floor of a Nabors Industries Ltd. drill rig in the Permian Basin near Midland, Texas, on March 1, 2018. (Daniel Acker/Bloomberg/Getty Images)
That disruption has been felt most acutely in Texas, which anchors the nation’s refining hub and hosts several of the country’s largest heavy-crude refineries.
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A renewed flow of Venezuelan barrels could also intensify competition in the heavy-crude market, particularly between Venezuela and Canada, Brito said.
“You’re going to have fierce competition between Canada and Venezuela, which benefits American refiners and gives them more flexibility to potentially lower fuel prices,” he said, adding that he was speaking strictly from an oil-market perspective.
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A security guard was fatally shot outside a Houston restaurant Wednesday evening after a confrontation with another man, authorities said.
The shooting happened around 6:15 p.m. outside Connie’s Seafood Market Restaurant, the Houston Police Department said.
Police told reporters that the security guard, who was working for the restaurant, was standing in the parking lot when a fight broke out between him and another man, FOX26 Houston reported.
Police said the security guard was shot at least once. He was rushed to a hospital where he later died.
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A security guard was fatally shot outside a Houston restaurant Wednesday evening after a confrontation with another man, authorities said. (Houston Police Department)
Authorities did not immediately release the name of the victim.
The suspect was last seen running away from the parking lot after the shooting.
The security guard was working for the restaurant at the time of the shooting. (Google Maps)
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No details about the suspect or the circumstances that led to the altercation have been released as of Thursday morning.
Houston police were reviewing surveillance footage as they search for the shooting suspect. (Mayra Beltran/Houston Chronicle, File)
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Officials said investigators were reviewing surveillance footage and speaking with witnesses to get a description of the suspect.
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