Mabel Holliday, Good Samaritan Society-Auburn, will celebrate her 109th birthday Thursday, May 6. She is the third oldest living Nebraskan, reported E.A. Kral, Wilber, volunteer researcher for the Nebraska Health Care Association.

The daughter of William and Sarah (Armstrong) Holman, she was born May 6, 1901, on a farm two miles northeast of Auburn, Mabel Holman Holliday had one brother, Charles Holman and a sister-in-law, Ellen Cornell Holman. She graduated from Auburn High School in 1919 and the University of Nebraska Teachers College in 1924. Mabel Holman Holliday moved with her pharmacist husband, Ray W. Holliday, to Hebron in 1926. Her husband died in 1956 and she returned to Auburn in 1961. Her son, Ray Holliday, Lincoln, said that his mother lived in her home until age 103, then lived at Longs Creek Village Assisted Living until she moved to Good Samaritan Society-Auburn, where she has resided for a little more than a year.
Holliday also has a daughter, Patricia Gibbons, of Naperville, Ill.; seven grandchildren and six great-grandchildren. She worked at the pharmacy in Hebron, is a 75-year member of the Methodist Church, and has been a member of a PEO chapter and several bridge clubs.
Ray Holliday said that his grandfather, who came from England, bought the family farm in 1870. It is one mile north of Auburn on Highway 75 and one-and-one-half miles east. The large frame family home, which was built in 1905, still stands. Ray Holliday said that his grandfather farmed until he died in 1919. Charles Holman took over the farm and farmed until 1967, when he moved to Auburn.
The family plans a private birthday celebration close to May 6.
Kral said that the two living Nebraskans older than Mabel Holman Holliday are Ella Winkelman Schuler of Shawnee County, Kan., born Sept. 5, 1897 and Mable Steiner Ragan of Boone County, born Feb. 1, 1901. Also on the list are Rose Koch Portwood of Jefferson County, born March 5, 1902 and Eleanor Wrede Nielsen of Knox County, born Jan. 26, 1903.
Relatives, health care professionals and others are asked to notify Nebraska Health Care Association (NHCA) officials when someone with Nebraska connections reaches age 107. The individual’s name, birthday and county of residence are placed on the roster. Since age verification may be necessary via census records involving the centenarian’s youth or early adult years, relatives may assist by providing names of parents and location of centenarian during 1900-1920.
Please notify NHCA officials when persons on the living roster become deceased so that information may be kept current. NHCA may be reached at 3900 Northwest 12th St., Suite 100, Lincoln, NE, 68521.