WASHINGTON — A Virginia woman marked her 111th birthday on Nov. 11, and
she is still not the oldest resident in the commonwealth.

Rosa Beckner was born in 1903 on a farm in northern Roanoke County and now
lives
with family in the Wirtz area of Franklin County, The Roanoke Times reports. She is believed to be the
third-oldest person in Virginia.

Beckner says much has changed since the early 1900s. The most striking
development has been the phone, she said, remembering the large device her
father secured to the wall of their home.

Now, “you can carry them in your pocket,” she told the Roanoke Times.

Even at 111, Beckner says she still makes time for exercise. She uses two cans
of baked beans to do a series of curls.

But Beckner doesn’t credit her longevity to exercise alone. She says she has
God to thank.

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