Rebecca “Fannie” Dawkins of West Columbia will be 102 on Thursday.

On Sunday, members of Turner AME Church, where she has been a member for 85 years, celebrated with her.

She is the eldest known resident of West Columbia.

“It’s been a fine birthday,” Dawkins said as she sat next to her baby sister, Doretha Herlong, 92.

“They got me up at 5 o’clock this morning,” Dawkins said, to get ready for her big day. Bridget Patrick, a church member who drives for AMS Ambulance Service picked up Dawkins at the Opus nursing facility on Leaphart Road.

Addy Caldwell of the church helped arrange the party.

“I’ve known her all my life,” Patrick said. “She lived around the corner from me.”

Patrick said she loves to talk with Dawkins who is like family to her.

Rev. Kenneth Taylor of Turner AME said Dawkins is a “blessing from God.”

She advises him, submitting scripture for him to use in his sermons and gave him a list of specific songs she wanted to be used at the church’s Christmas service.

“I’ve learned to take her advice,” Rev. Taylor said with a smile.

West Columbia City Councilman Mickey Pringle, a member of Turner AME, has known Dawkins since 1976, when he moved to West Columbia.

“She is a sweet, God-fearing woman,” said Pringle. “She would help any one she could.”

Dawkins was a cosmetologist in West Columbia for 40 years. Until recently, she lived since 1948 in the same house off 12th Street built by her father.

Born in Fairfield County in 1917, Dawkins went to New Brookland High School and Clinton Junior College. She obtained her cosmetology license from Pope Beauty School.

In a 2017 interview, Dawkins said “living right” explained her long life.

She is wheelchair-bound and prays every day for everybody in the community.

Dawkins comes from a family of 13 children. Her grandfather, Milton Meadows, lived to 106.

“When he died,” she said, “there was nothing wrong with him, except he said his foot hurt.”