At 109, Heritage House resident Mamie Rogers is well on the way to being Vicksburg’s oldest resident, if she isn’t already.

Rogers was born in Issaquena County and grew up in Edwards. She moved to Vicksburg in the 1930s, said her sister, Lenier Taylor, 96, and also a resident of Heritage House.

&#8220She’s a very sweet lady,” said Andrea Alexander, activities director at the retirement and nursing home complex. &#8220She’s very alert and says a Dr Pepper a day has contributed” to her longevity.

Alexander said Rogers is believed to be the oldest person in Vicksburg, but that has not been verified.

Taylor said they have a brother, Walter Harris, who was born in 1915, 1916 or 1917.

Rogers and Taylor also have two great-great-nephews who moved to Vicksburg in 1989 to be near them. Anthony, 46, and Lamont, 43, Brown grew up in Illinois.

&#8220She is a wonderful lady,” Anthony Brown said.

Lamont Brown said he lived for about a month with his great-great-aunt on a farm near Momence, Ill., adding she taught him a lot about working with his hands.

Taylor believes her sister once lived in Columbus, Miss., and worked in a store with her father-in-law.

The Gerontology Research Group Web site contains a listing of the oldest people in the world, headed by Maria Esther Capovilla of Ecuador who is verified as being 116 years old.

The same list, as of 2005, listed a second Mississippian, Bettie Wilson, 115. At the time, she was the third-oldest person in the world, but she died in February of this year.

In 2005, another Mississippian, Moses Hardy, was listed as the world’s 10th oldest person, who is either 112 or 113. The 2006 list has him as the eighth-oldest person.

A Chicago newspaper has carried a story in the past 12 months about another person, Roberta Weston and a native of Mississippi, who is said to be 118. The publication noted her age has not been confirmed because she was born before Mississippi started keeping birth records and the family Bible which noted her birth was lost in a fire.

The GRG, based in Englewood, Calif., is an organization that tracks and studies what they call &#8220supercentinarians,” people who are more than 110 years old.