This Woman Has Lived For 100 Years But Just Saw The Ocean For The First Time

    "It's cold!"

    Julie Gerstein
    by Julie Gerstein

    BuzzFeed Staff

    Ruby Holt lived her entire life in Tennessee, spending years working on a farm, then working in a shirt factory, and raising her four children. But she'd never been to the ocean.

    AP Brynn Anderson

    Holt said she was always too busy or never had enough money to travel.

    When the caregivers at Holt's assisted living facility found out, they filled out an application for her with the non-profit Wish of a Lifetime, which grants wishes to elderly people.

    AP Brynn Anderson

    This past week, Wish of a Lifetime drove Holt a short 400 miles from her home in Giles County, Tennessee, to stay at the Perdido Beach Resort at the Gulf of Mexico.

    AP Brynn Anderson

    Holt said she'd only previously left her home state once before.

    With the help of health care aids, she even tentatively stuck a bare foot in the cold, clear water.

    AP Brynn Anderson

    "It's cold!" she told the Associated Press.

    “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,” Holt told the AP.

    AP Brynn Anderson

    "When we got to the room yesterday she was just pointing out the ocean and, you know, her facial expressions and... she was just speechless," said Mark Davis, the executive director of Sterling House, where Holt lives.

    "We don't have nothing like this in Giles County," she said.

    AP Brynn Anderson