Beatrice Diehl loves Milky Way chocolate bars, sunbathing and watching professional baseball.
She’s loved those things for more than 108 years, or close to it, anyways. Diehl celebrates her 109th birthday Sept. 28.
Diehl, who goes by Bea, was born Beatrice Swift in 1916 in Canada. She moved to Buffalo, New York as a child.
She married Leo Diehl in 1941. The couple moved to Columbus on their honeymoon so her new husband could begin working as an engineer at Curtiss-Wright.
Beatrice Swift turns 109 years old on Sept. 28, 2025.
Diehl said the highlight of her 109 years was marrying Diehl and moving to central Ohio.
She raised four children, and she watched as her nine grandchildren grew older. Diehl has now lived to see the birth of 16 great-grandchildren and four great-great-grandchildren as well as the death of her first-born child.
She lives at the Inn at Summit Trail in Reynoldsburg.
109-year-old ‘Energizer bunny’
Described by a grandchild as an “Energizer bunny,” even at 109, Diehl still does everything by herself.
Ashley Woolever, the community director at the Inn at Summit Trail, said the staff is there for support if Diehl needs it, but she rarely does.
Her second-eldest, Carol Connor, 81, laughed as she said her centenarian mother walks better than she can.
The great-great-grandmother still goes to the casino to play the slots and can be found outside the majority of the time — even in the cold winter months.
Throughout her many years, she has enjoyed playing golf and bowling. She watched her son be sent to fight in the Vietnam War, which she said was scary for her as a mother.
Beatrice Swift poses with her daughter, Carol, a few days before she turned 109 years old.
How many people live past 100?
As of 2024, there were an estimated 101,000 Americans aged 100 and older, according to data from Pew Research Center. That means centenarians like Diehl make up only 0.03% of the overall U.S. population.
Worldwide, there were an estimated 722,000 centenarians in 2024, according to the data.
Diehl’s assisted living community organized a party for Diehl on Sept. 26 to celebrate the accomplishment of living 109 years.
Wisdom from Diehl
Before moving into the Inn at Summit at 104, Diehl lived on her own from 1999 until 2021. In her pond-side apartment, she drank creamy coffee and fed the ducks each morning on her back patio.
While Diehl said she doesn’t have any secrets to living so long for the next generation, she did note she recently started drinking her coffee black, without the cream and sugar, for her health.
She has lived a beautiful life, she said — “for the most part.”
Sophia Veneziano is a Columbus Dispatch reporter supported by the Center for HumanKindness at The Columbus Foundation. She may be reached at sveneziano@dispatch.com. The Dispatch retains full editorial independence for all content.
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Beatrice Diehl, of Reynoldsburg, celebrates 109th birthday Sept. 28
