111-year-old Hyattsville resident’s story encourages family to know their history

By ANASTASIA MERKULOVA

Hyattsville is the current home to an extremely special resident — the oldest person in Maryland. Dorothy Mimms is 111 years old and lives at Independence Court on Queens Chapel Road, which provides assisted living and memory care for seniors. Born on July 5, 1913, Mimms’ spirit and strength continue to shine through her as she receives memory care for her dementia. 

Mimms was born in Nashville, Tenn., and raised by her formerly enslaved great-grandmother, Easter Boyd. Mimms went to beauty school in Louisville, Ky., and moved to Washington, D.C., with her husband and children in 1953, according to her son, Stephen Mimms.

In D.C., Mimms was a homemaker who took care of her three young sons: Bart, Wayne and Stephen. She also cared for her husband, Robert Mimms, who was engaged in the Civil Rights Movement — including the March on Washington led by Martin Luther King Jr. — worked in the General Service Administration, and was a member of the Building Service Employees Union, according to Stephen. 

Mimms loved children, and became an elementary school teacher’s aide in D.C. Public Schools in the 1960s, retiring in 1984. She has four grandchildren, four great-grandchildren and three great-great-grandchildren. Stephen is 75 years old and is her last living son; he retired from a project management career to take care of her.

Stephen said he finds the fact that his mother is alive and well “surprising and encouraging,” and mentioned that she needs little assistance, considering her age. He said she is loved at Independence Court, is able to feed herself, and insists on going to the washroom on her own. 

Long life seems to run in the women’s side of Mimms’ family: Mimms’ mother, Mayme Hopkins, lived to be 102 years old.

Mimms gets her strength from her faith, her family and from her past community and church involvement, according to Stephen. He said he could always confide in her, and she made a home where education, career and independence were encouraged. Mimms encouraged her sons to participate in Boy Scouts, church groups and the D.C. Youth Chorale. 

“She raised us to be a part of the community and contribute to the world,” Stephen said. 

Stephen said Mimms was always an artistic and musical person who enjoyed pottery, singing and dancing, and she spends time doing craft and coloring activities organized by Independence Court staff today. Mimms is still able to color within the lines. 

Mimms’ life holds important history: Her great-grandmother Easter, who was formerly enslaved, saw her twin brother sold off from the family, and they never recovered him. Stephen also said that Mimms witnessed male members of the family go out looking for work, never to return. Generations later, Mimms was involved in Civil Rights marches in D.C.

“You can’t go forward unless you know from where you came” is the advice that Mimms would frequently tell her daughter-in-law, Jo Ann Mimms, who is married to Stephen.

Mimms has shared stories with Stephen about how she survived when she was younger, living in one household with multiple generations, and using coal to warm up their blankets before going to sleep in shared beds. 

Stephen is a photographer, and hand-colors some of the pictures that he brings in for Mimms to look at. He said that people with memory issues often get stuck in a specific time period in their lives, and the oldest memories hang on the longest. The images help to jog Mimms’ memory, and she sometimes shouts out a name that can help Stephen pick up additional information.

Although Stephen said that the tragic part of his mother’s memory loss is that some details of her story get lost, he tries his best to share as much as he can with his children and grandchildren. Mimms’ long, well-lived life has taught him how important it is to know his roots and keep track of memories.

“You have to know where you came from, and also understand the struggles that were before you,” he said. “There is nothing wrong with being woke.”