108-Year-Old Woman Still Drives and Works Out 3 Times a Week — and Her Secret to a Long Life Is Simpler Than You Think
May 13, 2026 by apost team
Susan Young Browne was born in 1918 in Houston, Delaware — a small town, a segregated America, and a farmhouse without running water or electricity. She grew up helping her family work the land, attended a college that bore the words "For Colored Students" in its name, spent three decades teaching children across Delaware, and raised a family whose descendants still gather around her table for a slice of her famous 7UP pound cake.
She turned 108 years old on May 2, 2026. More than 130 people came to celebrate her at Whatcoat United Methodist Church in Dover, including Delaware Gov. Matt Meyer. The state presented her with a gift that said more about who she is than any speech could: her very own reserved parking spot — for drivers over the age of 100.
Because Susan Young Browne still drives. She recently renewed her license through 2033 and gets behind the wheel to take herself wherever she needs to go. She also works out three times a week at the Modern Maturity Center in Dover, a place she has called home since 1973 and one of the earliest members of which she remains. When she walks into a group workout class, her classmates cheer. "You are the spotlight," they tell her.
She has a morning exercise routine she has followed for 20 years — getting down on the floor each day before anything else. "When I get up in the morning, I have an exercise routine that I've been doing for the last 20 years," she told CBS News Philadelphia.
She is also, as of May 2026, the oldest living alumna of Delaware State University — a distinction the university noted may make her the longest-living graduate in its history, though further research, it said, is still needed.
Browne graduated from what was then Delaware State College for Colored Students in 1945 with a bachelor's degree in elementary education. She went on to teach for 30 years across multiple schools in Delaware, including a one-room schoolhouse. The experience left a permanent mark on how she thinks about stillness. "When I retired and I walked around that classroom for 30 years, I am not going to sit down," she said.
That philosophy has carried her well past the century mark. She describes her approach to aging simply:
"I grow old gracefully."
She credits movement — constant, deliberate, daily movement — as the foundation of a life that has now outlasted most of the people she knew and much of the world she grew up in.
She is a mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother. Her wit is as sharp as her routine. When asked about men, she delivered a line that drew laughter:
"I guess I'm not great material for men. That was enough. I'm not taking care of another man."
The people at the Modern Maturity Center know her by name and by heart. She has been showing up there since 1973 — more than 50 years — and she has no intention of stopping. The reserved parking spot the state gave her for her birthday is, in its own way, a perfect metaphor: a recognition not just of how long she has lived, but of the fact that she is still going, still moving, still arriving somewhere under her own power.
"I'm over a hundred," she said, with a smile that suggested she found the whole thing faintly amusing. "A hundred and eight."
apost.com
Does Susan Young Browne's story inspire you? What do you think is her greatest secret to living such a full and active life? Let us know in the comments and pass this on to your family, friends, and anyone who needs a little inspiration today!