Ask the Memphian: Who was the oldest person in Memphis history? She was also the oldest person in the world.
Keith Bolden’s great-grandmother’s name was Elizabeth Bolden, but he and his family always called her “Mama Lizzie.”
And when he visited her, he liked to sit and listen to her stories.
She recalled sitting on the lap of her grandfather, a former enslaved person, and playing with his long, white whiskers. She shared her experiences as a farmer and Black woman in the Jim Crowe South. She talked about all the world-changing inventions she had seen come into daily life — the refrigerator, the car, the plane — and the U.S. presidents that had come and gone: William McKinley and Woodrow Wilson, to name a few.
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John Klyce
John Klyce is an enterprise reporter with The Daily Memphian who writes a wide range of in-depth features, as well as profiles about local leaders, scientists, musicians, artists, entrepreneurs, and anyone else doing exciting and important work in this city. He previously spent four years with the Memphis Business Journal, where he covered public companies, startups, and innovation, and a fifth year with The Commercial Appeal, where he covered education, and chronicled how gun violence and poverty were affecting Memphis youth and their families. He has also been a fellow with the Institute for Citizens and Scholars. John has a B.A. in journalism from the University of Memphis and an M.F.A. in creative writing from Boston University.
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