Barbara Holman-Robinson can only look back at her life and think how she’s had a good ride so far.
Holman-Robinson, who’s known for her fashion sense, styled a wine red, white flowered dress, a sparkled tiara sitting atop her head and a golden sash across her body that read “birthday queen” in black letters.
She achieved the rare feat of becoming a supercentenarian when she turned 110 years old last Tuesday, July 16. Joining her in celebration were relatives, her church family and staff and residents of Atria El Camino Gardens.
It was a full house as they filled the dining hall at the Carmichael assisted-living facility, listening to Holman-Robinson’s stories and the soothing sounds of a saxophonist tuning classics such as “We Are The World.”
Although the day was about her, she could only give praise to Him.
“I could have just come through here and gone on with the music and thought nothing about God at all, but that’s not me,” said Holman-Robinson, who called herself a child of God. “I want people to realize that God is real and He’s here to help them if they will let Him. I lean on Him and when things get too hard; I fall on my face before God.”
Her favorite scripture is Proverbs 3:6, which says, “in all of thy ways acknowledge Him and He shall direct that path.”
Born in Pasadena in 1914, Holman-Robinson grew up in the church her entire life.
At 16, she played piano for church services on weeknights while still making it home in time to finish her homework.
She met her future husband, Robert Benjamin Holman Sr., at a church convention in Southern California. They had an instant connection. He went on to become a pastor at Christ Temple Church in Sacramento, later renamed to Christ Temple Apostolic Church.
Their first date was a trip to the beach. They sent letters back and forth to each other as their affection for one another grew.
In 1938, when Barbara was 24, she and Robert married and they moved to Sacramento. When he first asked her to be his wife, Barbara jokingly responded with “maybe.”
“I’ve been here ever since my husband came and got me,” Holman-Robinson said. “In fact, he asked for my mother and father, they consented and told him if he ever got tired of me, don’t mistreat me, just send me back home.”
Once she left Los Angeles for Sacramento as a newlywed, she cried because she’d never left home to live on her own before. However, she said that her husband reassured her that he was determined to make her happy.
“I had a beautiful wedding (and marriage),” Holman-Robinson said.
Robert took care of everything and Barbara never had to work, unless she wanted to. He bought her a car, a blue Cadillac. And eventually bought her another Cadillac, this one burgundy.
“My husband, he just gave me anything I wanted. If I said I want this (or that) he’d say ‘just don’t mess up my credit,’” Holman-Robinson said.
Their marriage lasted 58 years until Holman died in 1996.
“When my husband got sick I took care of him,” Holman-Robinson said. “I took him to the doctor and did everything I could for him. But God took him on. So I didn’t have any excuses.”
Together, they shared two children who eventually gave them dozens of grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
Who is Barbara? ‘We laugh a lot’
One of those grandchildren is Angelique Marlene Reynolds. Born in 1960, Reynolds is the eldest grandchild to Holman-Robinson.
Reynolds, 64, was born in Barbara’s Sacramento home at 16th and R streets. Holman-Robinson even cut her umbilical cord at birth.
Reynolds said she’s been with Holman-Robinson just about her whole life.
She describes her grandmother as someone who is understanding and encouraging. She said she possesses the traits of a jokester and social butterfly. Reynolds added that her grandmother is used to being spoiled.
“We have a lot of good times. We laugh a lot,” Reynolds said. “I spoil her. But she’s a lot of fun and she has jokes even at 110 years old.”
Reynolds, who now resides in Florida, flew to Sacramento for a week to spend time with the woman who practically raised her.
Reynolds gets a kick out of her grandmother acting like she can’t hear whenever Reynolds suggests something Holman-Robinson doesn’t agree with.
Sometimes it’s a simple car ride. Sometimes it’s educating her on changes in society such as explaining what a GPS navigation system is.
“We laugh a lot,” Reynolds said. “It’s not a place, it’s not a time. It’s just a set of experiences that I will always carry in my heart…it’s been an experience for me.”
Everyone calls her ‘Mother’
Charlotte Coleman, 72, first met Holman-Robinson in 1973 at Christ Temple Apostolic Church, then located at 4809 Roosevelt Ave.
Coleman had just moved from Alabama with her husband who was in the military. They were stationed at Mather Air Force Base, now Mather Airport.
She became a member of the church after meeting other members. Getting to know Holman-Robinson, Coleman described her as feisty and spoiled, saying she knows what she wants and will stay in pursuit until she gets it.
Coleman said Barbara has always been a wonderful person and praised her for her urge to introduce God to other people.
“That’s her, but she’s a loving person,” Coleman said. “She really encourages people to get to know God. … She’s a good listener. If you have a problem, she would listen to you and she would try to give you sound advice. She has always been that way and she’s still that way.”
Everyone at the church called Holman “Mother” and her husband, Robert, was referred to as “Dad Holman,” “dad” or “elder Holman,” Coleman said.
“When I first came to Christ Temple, she took in a lot of other kids, then they would come and stay at her house,” Coleman said. “She and Dad took in other people’s kids, not that they didn’t have a family, but Mother and Dad were that type, the kids would come to their house and hang out and everything. They had a nice big backyard and they would go and do things.”
It wasn’t just kids they would take in. It was anyone who needed help and a prayer.
Pauline Kirkendoll was 40 years old, living on the streets of Oakland, when she met Mother in 1990.
Kirkendoll went to the church because her daughter, Pamela, was studying at Sacramento State at the time and was a member of Christ Temple. She asked for the church to pray for her mother, who was living with her after being homeless in Oakland.
“I went to the church and they had a program for people on drugs,” Kirkendoll, now 74, said. “So I went there for that program and it might have been six months later, someone came to me and they said that Mother needed help in the house.”
Kirkendoll was given a job and a place to stay inside their home for seven years.
“She didn’t want me to leave. I took care of her and her husband,” Kirkendoll said. “I was a live-in person, but they never treated me like a maid. She never called me a maid. I was a part of the family.”
Kirkendoll didn’t have to worry about paying rent or buying food. She was taught to set the dinner table and cook. She said Mother could cook anything, but her specialty was fried chicken.
Kirkendoll was paid $600 a month for her work which helped her save money to buy a car. The Holmans even paid for the car insurance for a year.
Now, 34 years later, Kirkendoll hasn’t done any drugs or even smoked a cigarette. She remains celibate and praises God for her journey.
She remains close with Mother and continues to help her in every way she can, whether it’s taking her to church, dinner, cooking for her or going to get her nails done once a month.
”She stuck with me the whole way and I’m still there for her.”
When Coleman’s mother died in 2013, she grew closer to Holman.
“She played a major part in most people’s lives,” Coleman said.
What is a supercentenarian?
It is rare for humans to live to age 100, becoming a centenarian, let alone living past 110 to become a supercentenarian.
According to the Pew Research Center, there are an estimated 101,000 centenarians in the United States. The majority of 100-plus-year-old citizens (78%) are women. Most of the men and women who live that long are white, making up 77% of the centenarian population in the U.S., according to the Pew Research Center. Only 8% of U.S. centenarians are Black. Asians make up 7% and Latino centenarians make up 6%.
Supercentenarians are far less common. The Boston University School of Medicine’s New England Centenarian Study in the early 2010s estimated there to be about 60 in the U.S. and between 200 and 300 worldwide. Estimates have grown some and vary by source, but most still report the global total below 500.
Waclaw Jan Kroczek of the Gerontology Research Group, based in Los Angeles, said the oldest resident of California is Ilse Meingast. Although the GRG is working on validating her age, it is said she was born in Germany on March 14, 1912. If verified, she would be 112.
The oldest verified California resident is Maxine Hix, who was born in Arkansas on March 22, 1913. She’s 111.
Kroczek said that the oldest African-American person living in California is Rosa Pate, who was born in Texas on May 22, 1913. She’s also 111.
The woman validated as the world’s oldest living person was born in California but now lives in Spain, according to the Pew Research Center. That’s Maria Branyas Morera, who is 117.
No complaints at age 110
Nowadays, Mother is mostly relaxing and enjoying the days as they come by.
She is still pampered by everyone in her presence — whether it’s Coleman, who will cook her favorite dishes, or her kids or grandkids, whenever she brings Mother home to visit.
Reynolds hasn’t lived in Sacramento since 1987 but she remains in close contact with the Atria staff and those close to her grandmother, such as Coleman and Kirkendoll.
Initially, she didn’t want to or expect to live this long back then, but she’s thankful for the years that she has seen.
There are days where she thinks she won’t wake up and then she rises in the morning and takes a look around her bedroom.
“As long as I feel good, I’m happy,” Holman said. “As long as I’m not sick.”
She wonders why and how she made it this far. Sometimes she’ll tell Coleman, “I don’t know why God keeps me here.”
“I always tell her, ‘Don’t bother God, don’t worry God because he’s doing what he does, you know, he wants you here,” Coleman said. “He’s keeping you here.’”
Kirkendoll says all Holman speaks about is heaven.
“She wants to make heaven her home,” Kirkendoll said. “Sometimes she talks about it so much that you wouldn’t believe it. That’s where she wants to be. And we tell her, ‘Mother you gotta be patient.’ When God says come, then you will go.”
One thing for certain Mother knows is that she’s had a wonderful lifespan of 110 years and counting.
And for that, she said that she cannot complain.
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