Woman celebrates 108th birthday, shares her secret to longevity

GLOBE, Ariz. (3TV/CBS 5/Gray News) – Carmen Slough celebrated her 108th birthday this week with friends and family.

She was born in Douglas, Arizona, but has lived in the Globe-Miami area her entire life and is well-known. Slough owned a clothing store in downtown Globe for 49 years.

“We didn’t have paved streets,” Slough told AZFamily, remembering the early days of Globe. “There was still a few people who got around on horseback.”

Slough lived through the Spanish Flu when she was just 4 years old, but she remembers it like it was yesterday.

“I was old enough to know that something was wrong,” she said. “There was a lot of people in the area that did pass away from the flu at that time.”

At the age of 106, another virus — this time COVID-19 — turned her world upside down.

Slough admits it affected her, saying, “The isolation was really, really bad for me because I was used to being a part of the community.”

Slough’s late husband was a WWI veteran, and her siblings fought in WWII.

“I remember the people that we lost and the valor of our local boys that served overseas,” said Slough.

Her 86-year-old son, Bob, relies on his mom’s recollection and calls her “a wonder.”

Slough says staying active is the secret to longevity.

“I don’t believe in just sitting down and giving up, I believe in going out in the sunshine, picking weeds, and working in the garden,” Slough said.

She has a little brother, the only surviving sibling in her family of nine, who’s 98 years old.

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