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100-year-old woman sees the ocean for first time, says "it's cold"

Ruby Holt lived her whole life in rural Tennessee.

Associated Press / YouTube

RUBY HOLT HAD just one wish ahead of 101st birthday: to see the ocean for first time.

Having spent her life working farms and raising children in rural Tennessee, she had never been able to afford the 400-mile trip to America’s east coast.

When her nursing home staff heard of her wish, they contacted the Wish of a Lifetime organisation, who organised an all-expenses-paid trip to the Gulf of Mexico.

She says that hearing people talk about it made her want to visit all the more.

“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.”

And her reaction once she got there?

“It’s cold.”

Read: A bedroom frozen in time – the interiors of a life 100 years ago

Read: 14 never-before-seen photos from the world’s best photographers

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28 Comments
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    Mute Jason
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    Nov 21st 2014, 9:57 AM

    My wife’s granny, from South Poland came to visit us in Wexford in 2010. She was 80 at the time. She’d never seen a beach; sand or the ocean. She stripped to her underwear and dived in! It was wonderful, I shed a few tears that day.

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    Mute j
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    Nov 21st 2014, 10:03 AM

    I’d cry to if I saw a granny in her underwear!

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    Mute TonyFlynn
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    Nov 21st 2014, 12:22 PM

    Yeah, cyclops tears

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    Mute AARO-SAURUS
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    Nov 22nd 2014, 1:10 PM

    Hahahahahahahaha

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    Mute Mick Jordan
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    Nov 21st 2014, 9:54 AM

    Great story. The things we take for granted living on a small Island then you hear a story like this. In her century of life to have never seen the sea or the beach in person.

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    Mute Brian Gormley
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    Nov 21st 2014, 1:01 PM

    Mick, she spent her life working on farms and raising children, let’s face it they either hated her ( cause it’s only 400 mile round trip) or she’s a free loader

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    Mute Mick Jordan
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    Nov 21st 2014, 3:18 PM

    Brian have you ever seen rural America. There are places there in that time forgot. At 100 she was a teenager in the Great Depression. And rural Tennessee during those years wouldn’t have altered much since the civil war. She would have started having kids in the 30′s and 40′s. And as we don’t know about her financial circumstances during all those years or anything about her children. So its a very large leap to assume that they either hated her or that she is a freeloader as you put it.

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    Mute zebedee
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    Nov 21st 2014, 9:51 AM

    You learn something new every day!

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    Mute Brendan Julian
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    Nov 21st 2014, 9:57 AM

    Yeh that your a dope. She new the ocean existed she just never saw it in real

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    Mute Eóinzy
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    Nov 21st 2014, 10:03 AM

    Lovely grammar

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    Mute reg gordon
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    Nov 21st 2014, 10:05 AM

    Irony overload !!!!!

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    Mute Mike Dowling
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    Nov 21st 2014, 10:08 AM

    Good input Brendan. Are you drunk ?

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    Mute Brandon Steers
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    Nov 21st 2014, 10:19 AM

    Not drunk, just stoooopid

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    Mute richard fennessy
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    Nov 21st 2014, 11:05 AM

    Stay classy Brendan

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    Mute Cian O Donoghue
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    Nov 21st 2014, 1:27 PM

    Hah… so ironic.

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    Mute Silver Fox
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    Nov 21st 2014, 9:58 AM

    Thats lovely to sea!!

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    Mute Rusty Balls
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    Nov 21st 2014, 11:30 AM

    My father told me a story of having relatives from Northern Ireland, they had lived their entire lives in their own village, never leaving it. Of course they never saw the sea. He brought them to Bettystown in Co. Meath but when they got one look at the incoming tide they were so terrified he had to leave. They thought it was some sort of biblical tidal wave and would kill everyone. They couldn’t wait to get back to their wee village, where they felt safe.

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    Mute Rory Patrick
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    Nov 21st 2014, 11:52 AM

    Were they Hobbits?

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    Mute Steve M
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    Nov 21st 2014, 11:47 AM

    I once met an aul man in Dublin was said he has never been outside of Dublin City.

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    Mute navanman
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    Nov 21st 2014, 10:01 AM

    God bless her

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    Mute ohaimhirghin
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    Nov 21st 2014, 10:42 AM

    Could not afford a 400 mile trip. What a load of bull. Not bothered more like it.

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    Mute Maurice Danaher
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    Nov 21st 2014, 10:26 AM

    Seeing the ocean doesn’t make you live longer or make you happier. Maybe the secret to a long life is being contented with your lot !

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    Mute Pinel G
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    Nov 21st 2014, 9:57 AM

    Old story read about it on the Daily mail yesterday http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2843073/100-year-old-woman-sees-ocean-1st-time.html#comments – At least they put a but of effort into the report,
    instead of just 4-5 small sentences.

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    Mute Thomas Aquinas
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    Nov 21st 2014, 10:16 AM

    Does anybody actually read the Daily Mail. I thought it was a picture paper.

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    Mute Pinel G
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    Nov 21st 2014, 10:20 AM

    Ah sure everyone was Bashing the Indo last week because they “photoshopped” the guy throwing a brick in a protest – turned out it was a good report because everyone talked about it.

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    Mute Cowboy Ted
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    Nov 21st 2014, 10:54 AM

    Pinel G,

    How did the daily mail try and blame Obama for it?

    Right wing rag.

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    Mute Danny o' brien
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    Nov 21st 2014, 11:14 AM

    4-5 sentences and a YOUTUBE VIDEO!!!

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    Mute hw007
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    Nov 22nd 2014, 6:34 AM

    It’s amazing what we take for granted. I had a Slovak student who never seen the beach and sea . I took her one day and she just sat there and sooo amazed that when she asked me what was sea weed and could not understand all the sand surrounding us I could see people close to us watching and thinking where did she come from .
    I had a Spanish student that asked me can we see the stars here , he sat outside one night and tried to photograph them , he said he never seen them before he was aged 13 and came from Madrid and said due to the pollution in air they can’t see stars .
    I had a Uganda girl and like that she never seen a boat in water . To bring these simple things we take for granted to people who never saw them it’s amazing to see their reaction and to tell us how lucky we are to have them close by or to see them x

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