George Ford recently celebrated his 99th birthday withhis cousin, Carmel Lindsey, who is 94 himself.

George Ford has a wonderful memory for a man who just celebrated his 99th birthday.

He remembers the day he first came to Trumann. It was Christmas Eve 1924.

"We got off the train downtown at the depot," he says. "There was about eight inches of snow on the ground. We went out to my cousin's house outside of Trumann."

Both he and his cousin, Carmel Lindsey, who is 94 himself, live at Plantation Homes.

Ford, a younger brother and a sister came to Trumann from Waterloo, Ala with his mother Alma Parnell and his step-father when he was 16 years old. Later, he would have five step-brothers.

"My step-father had come to Trumann to try his hand at farming." He said.

In the 1930's, Ford left Trumann and moved to Earle where he met his future wife, Mary Watson. They were married in 1933.

"She's been gone six or seven years now," Ford said of Mary.

They lived in Earle for eight years before moving back to Trumann and together they had two girls and five boys.

"I rented land out from Weona and raised cotton, corn and soybeans," Ford said. "I farmed for 19 years."

Ford has outlived all his children except one, a daughter, Norma, 54, who lives in Lexington, Tenn. and will visit in Trumann this week.

When asked why he thinks he's lived this long, Ford doesn't hesitate with his answer.

"I didn't lay around, I worked. Worked hard," he said. "I farmed. When my boys were grown, I worked with them. We put brick on houses all over the country. I worked well into my 80's."

His family and friends contacted the Democrat about his milestone birthday, but he said he really didn't want the attention.

"I'm not anything special." He said. "I just don't want to make too big a deal."

He did, however, agree that reaching 99 years was special.

"I don't guess too many people make it this far."