At 100, Ohio resident Rita Competti may be the world's oldest polio survivor
LANCASTER − After turning 100 on May 29, Rita Competti is thought to be the oldest living polio survivor in the country and maybe even the world.
"Yes, yes," she said. "There was another one, but they died."
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Rita Competti's son is Innerphase Video Productions owner Bob Competti. He said Rotary International tracks polio survivors, which is where the thought of his mother being the oldest came from.
"They're, I would say, 100% sure in America," Bob Competti said. "But quite possibly in the world. They said it's safe to say definitely in America."
Rita Competti was 2 when she found she had polio. She got emotional when asked about her experience with the disease and could not talk about it.
"Her mother noticed she was dragging her foot when she was walking," her daughter, Mary Anne Rider said. "And that's when she was diagnosed with polio. She said her mother just noticed it when she couldn't go up the steps."
Rita Competti's mother died in 1944 when her daughter was 18. Her husband, William, died in 1983.
Bob Competti said his mother never had to wear a brace, but that her right leg never fully developed and is about two or three inches shorter than the left one.
Rita Competti has six children.
"We've been very blessed," Rider said. "Very blessed to have her all these years. She's been a wonderful mother and never let any ailment like that hold her back from taking care of six children. Six children, and everyone is healthy and we're very fortunate."
Bob Competti agreed.
"I know all six of us are so proud of Mom," he said. "Like Mary Anne said, she was never one to complain about it at all through her whole life. She dealt with that. She joined a bowling league, worked the cafeteria at Fisher (Catholic High School) for so many years. One leg was just a little shorter than the other one, but you never heard her complain about it at all."
As for turning 100, Rita Competti said she couldn't believe it as staff and residents at her residence celebrated the big day with her, along with some family members.
jbarron@gannett.com
740-681-4340
Twitter/X: @jeffrey_ba7142
This article originally appeared on Lancaster Eagle-Gazette: Lancaster woman, 100, believed to be world's oldest polio survivor
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