Watch this centenarian see the ocean for the first time


A free daily digest of the biggest news stories of the day - and the best features from our website
Thank you for signing up to TheWeek. You will receive a verification email shortly.
There was a problem. Please refresh the page and try again.
It took 100 years, but Ruby Holt finally saw the ocean.
"I've heard people talk about it and how wonderful it was and wanted to see it, but I never had the opportunity to do so," she told The Associated Press.
Holt spent her life in rural Tennessee, working on a farm and T-shirt factory while raising her children. She only left the state once, and never had the time or money to travel 400 miles to the shore. When workers at the assisted-living facility she lives at learned that Holt had never seen the ocean, they quickly filled out a form with the Wish of a Lifetime organization, and soon, Holt was on her way to the Gulf of Mexico.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
This month, just weeks before her 101st birthday, Holt felt the water on her feet and the sand between her toes. Her visit didn't last long — "It's cold" was a constant refrain — but Holt was still in awe of her surroundings. "We don't have nothing like this in Giles County," she said. --Catherine Garcia
Continue reading for free
We hope you're enjoying The Week's refreshingly open-minded journalism.
Subscribed to The Week? Register your account with the same email as your subscription.
Sign up to our 10 Things You Need to Know Today newsletter
A free daily digest of the biggest news stories of the day - and the best features from our website
Catherine Garcia is night editor for TheWeek.com. Her writing and reporting has appeared in Entertainment Weekly and EW.com, The New York Times, The Book of Jezebel, and other publications. A Southern California native, Catherine is a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.
-
Ten Things You Need to Know Today: 1 October 2023
The Week’s daily digest of the news agenda, published at 8am
By The Week Staff Published
-
Crossword: October 1, 2023
The Week's daily crossword
By The Week Staff Published
-
Sudoku medium: October 1, 2023
The Week's daily medium sudoku puzzle
By The Week Staff Published
-
More than 2,000 dead following massive earthquake in Morocco
Speed Read
By Justin Klawans Published
-
Mexico's next president will almost certainly be its 1st female president
Speed Read
By Peter Weber Published
-
North Korea's Kim to visit Putin in eastern Russia to discuss arms sales for Ukraine war, U.S. says
Speed Read
By Peter Weber Published
-
Gabon's military leader sworn in following coup in latest African uprising
Speed Read
By Justin Klawans Published
-
Nobody seems surprised Wagner's Prigozhin died under suspicious circumstances
Speed Read
By Peter Weber Published
-
Western mountain climbers allegedly left Pakistani porter to die on K2
Speed Read
By Justin Klawans Published
-
'Circular saw blades' divide controversial Rio Grande buoys installed by Texas governor
Speed Read
By Peter Weber Published
-
Los Angeles city workers stage 1-day walkout over labor conditions
Speed Read
By Justin Klawans Published