Walton County Bridge Named in Honor of the World's Oldest Living Person

WALTON COUNTY, GA — On Sunday, the world's oldest living person on record will have another birthday. She will be 116 years old.

And on Friday, she had a bridge in Walton County named in her honor.

The Bridge was dedicated a little after 2 p.m. on Friday, Aug. 24, 2012 on New Hope Church Road in the community of Between.

 in 1917 at the end of World War I. She taught at a little two-room school just up the road from the bridge that now bears her name.

and several local dignitaries were on hand for the dedication ceremony. Little noted that an event of this magnitude would probably never take place in Walton County again. Cooper is one of only eight people recorded to have reached the age she is now.

Cooper's son, Sidney, and two of his three other siblings were on hand for the ceremony. Her grandson, Paul, was with Cooper at the nursing home in Monroe where she now lives, and called in her thoughts about the prestigious event.

"The older she has gotten the more wittier she has gotten," her son said. "She said, 'I'm glad I gave them a reason to name it.'"