| Zonia Way | |
 | |
| Birth: | 9 May 1905 Meridian, Mississippi, USA |
| Death: | 10 July 2015 Chicago, Illinois, USA |
| Age: | 110 years, 62 days |
| Country: |  USA
|
| Unvalidated | |
Zonia Thomas Way (née Matticx) (9 May 1905 – 10 July 2015) was an American supercentenarian whose age is currently unvalidated by the Gerontology Research Group (GRG). At the time of her death, she was one of the oldest known living people in the U.S. state of Illinois.
Biography
Way was born Zonia Thomas Matticx in Meridian, Mississippi, United States, on 9 May 1905. She was the daughter of Frank Henry Matticx and Virginia Anna Shields. Her father was half French and half Choctaw Native American. Her grandfather founded St. Paul’s Methodist Episcopal Church in Meridian. Following her mother's death in 1915, her father moved to Chicago, Illinois, where he remarried to Grace Abney Garnett. Zonia Way moved there in 1918. She graduated from Hyde Park High School in 1923 and later began working in a hat shop. In Chicago, Way attended Doolittle Elementary School and Hyde Park High School, where she was an honor student and a member of the Girl’s Reserves.
Way’s first job was in a hat shop in 1925. That same year, she met Walker V. Thomas, a dental student. Soon they married and had two children. She was widowed in 1949 and remarried to John Way in 1960. Following the death of her first husband, she started creating and selling draperies.
Way died in Chicago, Illinois, United States, on 10 July 2015, at the age of 110 years, 62 days.
References
- Artmakers: Zonia T. Way The HistoryMakers
- Zonia T. Way The HistoryMakers