Grace Menges Thaxton, 114, died Wednesday, July 6, 2005, at Clark Regional Medical Center.
Formerly of Millersburg, she resided at the Winchester Center for Health and Rehabilitation at the time of her death. She was fondly referred to as "Amazing Grace" by her many friends and acquaintances.
At the time of her death, Mrs. Thaxton was the fourth oldest person in the United States and sixth oldest person in the world, according to research of the Gerontology Research Group and UCLA. There was no person known to be older than Mrs. Thaxton in the state of Kentucky. The combined ages of Mrs. Thaxton and her mother, Harriet Hardenburgh Menges of Rockland, N.Y., is the highest on record at 223 years. She is currently ranked 54 th on a list of longest-lived validated supercentenarians.
Born June 19, 1891, in Downsville, N.Y., she was a daughter of the late Peter John Menges and the late Harriet Hardenburgh Menges. Her childhood memories of growing up in the small village of Rockland in the Catskill Mountains included going to a two-room school, traveling with her parents to the Pan-American Expo in Buffalo in 1901, and severe winters that allowed much sledding, ice skating and excursions on her father's horse-drawn cutter to check on her grandparents eight miles away.
In 1910, she left home to attend college in Washington, D.C., where she had the opportunity to meet President Taft. After graduation, she accepted a teaching job at the Millersburg Female College and embarked on her first trip to Kentucky by train. The following year, she met and married Andrew Jackson Thaxton, a farmer and later agricultural extension agent. They moved into a Greek Revival home built in 1836 that Jack, orphaned when he was 16 years old, inherited when he was of legal age. This house and 160-acre farm on the outskirts of Millersburg were Mrs. Thaxton's home for 81 years.
Mrs. Thaxton was an active farm wife, a vital part of the Millersburg community, a charter member of the Kentucky Garden Club, and a member of the Millersburg Military Institute Ladies Auxiliary. Mrs. Thaxton continued to help manage the farm after her husband's death in 1959 and cared for her mother until her death at 109. She was blessed with good health for many years, only experiencing one serious illness, the flu epidemic of 1918.
A talented craftswoman, hooking rugs was one of her major interests. In 1935, she started working the wool from her sheep and discarded wool clothing into folk art designs marked on burlap. She gave up the hobby she loved at the age of 103 because of decreased dexterity and eyesight.
Survivors include a son, Robert M (Nancy) Thaxton, of Winchester; four granddaughters, Carolyn Wadsworth, of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, Harriett Giles, of Lexington, Wilma Martino, of Akron, Ohio, and Mary Jean May, of Bridgewater, N.J.; eight great-grandchildren, Mary Grace Parker, Woody Giles, Beth Wadsworth, Brian Wadsworth, Nick Martino, Ellen Martino, Nancy Beth May, and Eric May; and a great-great-granddaughter, Grace Eleana Parker.
Funeral services were held Saturday, July 9, 2005, at Lusk-McFarland Funeral Home, with the Rev. Ray Hanke officiating.
Burial followed in Millersburg Cemetery.
Formerly of Millersburg, she resided at the Winchester Center for Health and Rehabilitation at the time of her death. She was fondly referred to as "Amazing Grace" by her many friends and acquaintances.
At the time of her death, Mrs. Thaxton was the fourth oldest person in the United States and sixth oldest person in the world, according to research of the Gerontology Research Group and UCLA. There was no person known to be older than Mrs. Thaxton in the state of Kentucky. The combined ages of Mrs. Thaxton and her mother, Harriet Hardenburgh Menges of Rockland, N.Y., is the highest on record at 223 years. She is currently ranked 54 th on a list of longest-lived validated supercentenarians.
Born June 19, 1891, in Downsville, N.Y., she was a daughter of the late Peter John Menges and the late Harriet Hardenburgh Menges. Her childhood memories of growing up in the small village of Rockland in the Catskill Mountains included going to a two-room school, traveling with her parents to the Pan-American Expo in Buffalo in 1901, and severe winters that allowed much sledding, ice skating and excursions on her father's horse-drawn cutter to check on her grandparents eight miles away.
In 1910, she left home to attend college in Washington, D.C., where she had the opportunity to meet President Taft. After graduation, she accepted a teaching job at the Millersburg Female College and embarked on her first trip to Kentucky by train. The following year, she met and married Andrew Jackson Thaxton, a farmer and later agricultural extension agent. They moved into a Greek Revival home built in 1836 that Jack, orphaned when he was 16 years old, inherited when he was of legal age. This house and 160-acre farm on the outskirts of Millersburg were Mrs. Thaxton's home for 81 years.
Mrs. Thaxton was an active farm wife, a vital part of the Millersburg community, a charter member of the Kentucky Garden Club, and a member of the Millersburg Military Institute Ladies Auxiliary. Mrs. Thaxton continued to help manage the farm after her husband's death in 1959 and cared for her mother until her death at 109. She was blessed with good health for many years, only experiencing one serious illness, the flu epidemic of 1918.
A talented craftswoman, hooking rugs was one of her major interests. In 1935, she started working the wool from her sheep and discarded wool clothing into folk art designs marked on burlap. She gave up the hobby she loved at the age of 103 because of decreased dexterity and eyesight.
Survivors include a son, Robert M (Nancy) Thaxton, of Winchester; four granddaughters, Carolyn Wadsworth, of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, Harriett Giles, of Lexington, Wilma Martino, of Akron, Ohio, and Mary Jean May, of Bridgewater, N.J.; eight great-grandchildren, Mary Grace Parker, Woody Giles, Beth Wadsworth, Brian Wadsworth, Nick Martino, Ellen Martino, Nancy Beth May, and Eric May; and a great-great-granddaughter, Grace Eleana Parker.
Funeral services were held Saturday, July 9, 2005, at Lusk-McFarland Funeral Home, with the Rev. Ray Hanke officiating.
Burial followed in Millersburg Cemetery.
Grace Menges Thaxton, 114, died Wednesday, July 6, 2005, at Clark Regional Medical Center.
Formerly of Millersburg, she resided at the Winchester Center for Health and Rehabilitation at the time of her death. She was fondly referred to as "Amazing Grace" by her many friends and acquaintances.
At the time of her death, Mrs. Thaxton was the fourth oldest person in the United States and sixth oldest person in the world, according to research of the Gerontology Research Group and UCLA. There was no person known to be older than Mrs. Thaxton in the state of Kentucky. The combined ages of Mrs. Thaxton and her mother, Harriet Hardenburgh Menges of Rockland, N.Y., is the highest on record at 223 years. She is currently ranked 54 th on a list of longest-lived validated supercentenarians.
Born June 19, 1891, in Downsville, N.Y., she was a daughter of the late Peter John Menges and the late Harriet Hardenburgh Menges. Her childhood memories of growing up in the small village of Rockland in the Catskill Mountains included going to a two-room school, traveling with her parents to the Pan-American Expo in Buffalo in 1901, and severe winters that allowed much sledding, ice skating and excursions on her father's horse-drawn cutter to check on her grandparents eight miles away.
In 1910, she left home to attend college in Washington, D.C., where she had the opportunity to meet President Taft. After graduation, she accepted a teaching job at the Millersburg Female College and embarked on her first trip to Kentucky by train. The following year, she met and married Andrew Jackson Thaxton, a farmer and later agricultural extension agent. They moved into a Greek Revival home built in 1836 that Jack, orphaned when he was 16 years old, inherited when he was of legal age. This house and 160-acre farm on the outskirts of Millersburg were Mrs. Thaxton's home for 81 years.
Mrs. Thaxton was an active farm wife, a vital part of the Millersburg community, a charter member of the Kentucky Garden Club, and a member of the Millersburg Military Institute Ladies Auxiliary. Mrs. Thaxton continued to help manage the farm after her husband's death in 1959 and cared for her mother until her death at 109. She was blessed with good health for many years, only experiencing one serious illness, the flu epidemic of 1918.
A talented craftswoman, hooking rugs was one of her major interests. In 1935, she started working the wool from her sheep and discarded wool clothing into folk art designs marked on burlap. She gave up the hobby she loved at the age of 103 because of decreased dexterity and eyesight.
Survivors include a son, Robert M (Nancy) Thaxton, of Winchester; four granddaughters, Carolyn Wadsworth, of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, Harriett Giles, of Lexington, Wilma Martino, of Akron, Ohio, and Mary Jean May, of Bridgewater, N.J.; eight great-grandchildren, Mary Grace Parker, Woody Giles, Beth Wadsworth, Brian Wadsworth, Nick Martino, Ellen Martino, Nancy Beth May, and Eric May; and a great-great-granddaughter, Grace Eleana Parker.
Funeral services were held Saturday, July 9, 2005, at Lusk-McFarland Funeral Home, with the Rev. Ray Hanke officiating.
Burial followed in Millersburg Cemetery.
Formerly of Millersburg, she resided at the Winchester Center for Health and Rehabilitation at the time of her death. She was fondly referred to as "Amazing Grace" by her many friends and acquaintances.
At the time of her death, Mrs. Thaxton was the fourth oldest person in the United States and sixth oldest person in the world, according to research of the Gerontology Research Group and UCLA. There was no person known to be older than Mrs. Thaxton in the state of Kentucky. The combined ages of Mrs. Thaxton and her mother, Harriet Hardenburgh Menges of Rockland, N.Y., is the highest on record at 223 years. She is currently ranked 54 th on a list of longest-lived validated supercentenarians.
Born June 19, 1891, in Downsville, N.Y., she was a daughter of the late Peter John Menges and the late Harriet Hardenburgh Menges. Her childhood memories of growing up in the small village of Rockland in the Catskill Mountains included going to a two-room school, traveling with her parents to the Pan-American Expo in Buffalo in 1901, and severe winters that allowed much sledding, ice skating and excursions on her father's horse-drawn cutter to check on her grandparents eight miles away.
In 1910, she left home to attend college in Washington, D.C., where she had the opportunity to meet President Taft. After graduation, she accepted a teaching job at the Millersburg Female College and embarked on her first trip to Kentucky by train. The following year, she met and married Andrew Jackson Thaxton, a farmer and later agricultural extension agent. They moved into a Greek Revival home built in 1836 that Jack, orphaned when he was 16 years old, inherited when he was of legal age. This house and 160-acre farm on the outskirts of Millersburg were Mrs. Thaxton's home for 81 years.
Mrs. Thaxton was an active farm wife, a vital part of the Millersburg community, a charter member of the Kentucky Garden Club, and a member of the Millersburg Military Institute Ladies Auxiliary. Mrs. Thaxton continued to help manage the farm after her husband's death in 1959 and cared for her mother until her death at 109. She was blessed with good health for many years, only experiencing one serious illness, the flu epidemic of 1918.
A talented craftswoman, hooking rugs was one of her major interests. In 1935, she started working the wool from her sheep and discarded wool clothing into folk art designs marked on burlap. She gave up the hobby she loved at the age of 103 because of decreased dexterity and eyesight.
Survivors include a son, Robert M (Nancy) Thaxton, of Winchester; four granddaughters, Carolyn Wadsworth, of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, Harriett Giles, of Lexington, Wilma Martino, of Akron, Ohio, and Mary Jean May, of Bridgewater, N.J.; eight great-grandchildren, Mary Grace Parker, Woody Giles, Beth Wadsworth, Brian Wadsworth, Nick Martino, Ellen Martino, Nancy Beth May, and Eric May; and a great-great-granddaughter, Grace Eleana Parker.
Funeral services were held Saturday, July 9, 2005, at Lusk-McFarland Funeral Home, with the Rev. Ray Hanke officiating.
Burial followed in Millersburg Cemetery.
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