Please refer back to my earlier posts and read what this challenge is about so that the later posts make sense. 

Day 12 Question 12: As far as you know, who in your family’s history has lived the longest?

Answer: My paternal grandmother, Isabel Sanchez was born in 1895 and she passed away in 1992. In her 97 years on earth these events took place:

1895        Feb 8, Tchaikovsky’s “Swan Lake,” premiered in Petersburg.
(MC, 2/8/02) 

1896        Dr. Herman Hollerith, inventor of a tabulating machine (1889), founded the Tabulating Machine Company. In 1911 it became part of CTR. In 1924 CTR was renamed IBM.
(www.answers.com/topic/herman-hollerith)

1897        Gilbert Loomis was the first car-owner to purchase auto insurance for his vehicle. The premium was $7.50 for $1,000 worth of liability insurance.
(WSJ, 6/19/96, Adv. Supl)

1898        Mar 24, The 1st automobile was sold.

(MC, 3/24/02)

1899        Mar 27, The first international radio transmission between England and France was achieved by the Italian inventor G. Marconi.
(HN, 3/27/99)

1900        Feb 22, Hawaii became a US territory. [see Apr 30]
(MC, 2/22/02)

1901        Aug 30, Hubert Cecil Booth patented the vacuum cleaner. [see 1869]
(MC, 8/30/01)

1902        Apr 18, Denmark became the 1st country to adopt fingerprinting to identify criminals.
(MC, 4/18/02)

1903        Jan 2, President Theodore Roosevelt closed a post office in Indianola, Mississippi for refusing to hire a black postmistress.
(HN, 1/2/99)

1904        Feb 3, Colombian troops clashed with U.S. Marines in Panama.
(HN, 2/3/99)

1905        Mar 11, The Parisian subway was officially inaugurated.
(HN, 3/11/98)

1906        Jan 13, The Golden Gate Hotel opened on Fremont Street in Las Vegas, Nev..
(SSFC, 11/13/05, p.F4)

1907        Feb 22, The 1st cabs with taxi meters began operating in London.
(MC, 2/22/02)

1908        May 10, The first Mother’s Day observance took place during church services in Grafton, W.Va., and Philadelphia. In 1997 Anna Jarvis of Philadelphia first proposed the idea that all mothers wear a carnation on the 2nd Sunday of May.
(AP, 5/10/97)(SFC, 9/30/99, p.E5)

1909        Apr 18, Joan of Arc was declared a saint.
(MC, 4/18/02)

1910        Apr 14, President William Howard Taft began a sports tradition by throwing out the first pitch on baseball’s Opening Day. Taft threw to Washington Senator pitcher Walter Johnson, who went on to hurl a shutout win, allowing the Philadelphia Phillies just one hit and ending the day with a 3-0 victory for Washington.
(HNQ, 8/9/02)

1911        Mar 7, The United States sent 20,000 troops to the Mexican border in the wake of the Mexican Revolution.
(AP, 3/7/98)

1912        Mar 23, Dixie Cup was invented.

(SS, 3/23/02)

1913        Apr 21, Gideon Sundback of Sweden patented the zipper. [see Apr 29]
(MC, 4/21/02)

1914        Sep 5, The First Battle of the Marne began during World War I. The German First Army was led by Gen. Alexander von Kluck.
(AP, 9/5/97)(WSJ, 12/31/99, p.A10)

1915        Jan 19, The neon tube sign was patented by George Claude.
(MC, 1/19/02)

1916        May 11, Einstein’s paper “The Basis of the General Theory of Relativity” was published.
(http://tinyurl.com/2dvp8de)

1917        Apr 4, U.S. Senate voted 90-6 to enter World War I on Allied side.
(HN, 4/4/98)

1918        Mar 19, US Congress authorized time zones and approved Daylight Saving Time.
(AP, 3/19/97)(www.webexhibits.org/daylightsaving/usstat.html)(SSFC, 3/27/05, Par p.15)

1919        Feb 14, The United Parcel Service was incorporated in Oakland, CA.
(HN, 2/14/98)

1920        Jun 13, The U.S. Post Office Department ruled that children may not be sent by parcel post.
(HN, 6/13/98)

1921        Aug 10, Franklin D. Roosevelt (39) was stricken with polio at his summer home on the Canadian island of Campobello, New Brunswick. Mrs. Roosevelt acted as her partially paralyzed husband’s eyes and ears by traveling, observing and reporting her observations to him. As First Lady, an author and newspaper columnist and, later, a delegate to the United Nations, Eleanor Roosevelt labored tirelessly for the poor and disadvantaged. In the words of historian John Kenneth Galbraith, she showed “more than any other person of her time, that an American could truly be a world citizen.”
(HNPD, 10//99)(SSFC, 8/1/04, p.D11)

1922        Jan 11, Insulin, then called isletin, was 1st used to treat diabetes on Leonard Thompson (14) of Canada. [see Jan 23]
(www.insulinfreetimes.org/00_spring/giants.htm)

1923        Apr 5, Firestone Co. put their inflatable tires into production.
(MC, 4/5/02)

1924        Jan 25, The 1st Winter Olympic games opened in Chamonix, France.
(SSFC, 2/17/02, p.A19)(MC, 1/25/02)

1925        Apr 10, The novel “The Great Gatsby,” by F. Scott Fitzgerald, was first published by Scribner’s of New York. A film version was made in 1974.
(TMC, 1994, p.1925)(SFEC, 2/16/97, Par. p.18)(AP, 4/9/97)

1926        Mar 7, The first successful trans-Atlantic radio-telephone conversation took place, between New York City and London. AT&T began trans-Atlantic telephone service via two-way radio this year.
(AP, 3/7/98)(WSJ, 10/26/00, p.A12)

1927        Jan 13, A woman took a seat on the NY Stock Exchange breaking the all-male tradition.
(HN, 1/13/99)

1928        Jan 31, Scotch tape was 1st marketed by 3-M Company.
(MC, 1/31/02)

1929        May 28, The first all-color talking picture, “On with the Show,” opened in New York.
(AP, 5/28/99)

1930        Mar 17, Al Capone was released from jail.
(HN, 3/17/98)

1931        Feb 21, Alka Seltzer was introduced. [see Dec 31]
(MC, 2/21/02

1932        Apr 23, The Royal Shakespeare Theatre opened at Stratford-on-Avon. It replaced one built in 1879 that burned down in 1926.
(www.guardian.co.uk/fromthearchive/story/0,,1740490,00.html)(Econ, 3/31/07, p.91)

1933        Oct 10, The 1st synthetic detergent, “Dreft” by Procter & Gamble, went on sale.
(MC, 10/10/01)

1934        Mar 26, Driving tests were introduced in Britain.
(SS, 3/26/02)

1935        Feb 28, Nylon was discovered by Dr. Wallace H. Carothers.
(MC, 2/28/02)

1936        Feb 6, Adolf Hitler opened the Fourth Winter Olympics in Garmisch-Partenkirchen. 1061 athletes stood at attention half-hidden by a furious blizzard. Austrian and French athletes gave the Nazi salute in passing the revue stand.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1936_Winter_Olympics)(SSFC, 2/6/11, p.42)

1937        Jan 1, The US Social Security system began levying taxes on workers’ wages.
(Econ, 8/20/05, p.23)(www.ssa.gov/history/1930.html)

1938        Apr 25, First use of seeing eye dog.
(HN, 4/25/98)

1939        Jan 24, Some 28-30,000 were killed by magnitude 8.3 earthquake in Chillan, Chile.
(MC, 1/24/02)(AP, 6/22/02)

1940        Feb 29, “Gone with the Wind” won eight Academy Awards, including best picture of 1939. Victor Fleming was named best director, Vivien Leigh best actress, and Hattie McDaniel best supporting actress, the first black performer to receive an Oscar. Best actor went to Robert Donat for “Goodbye, Mr. Chips.”
(HN, 2/29/00)(AP, 2/29/04)

1941        Jan 22, The 1st mass killing of Jews took place in Romania. [see Jan 9]
(MC, 1/22/02)

1942        Feb 11, “Archie” comic book debuted.
(MC, 2/11/02)

1943        Feb 13, The Marine Corps began allowing women to enlist as reserves.
(www.mcleague.com/mdp/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=63)

1944        Jun 6, Cherokee tribal members communicated via radios in their native language on the Normandy beaches. Some 6,603 Americans were killed along the coast of France during the D-day invasion. A total of 9,758 Allied soldiers died during the invasion. “D-Day” by Stephen Ambrose was published in 1994.

1945        Jan 20, Franklin D. Roosevelt was inaugurated for his fourth term.
(HN, 1/20/99)

1946        Jan 1, Kathleen Casey became the first official US baby boomer following her birth just after midnight. On Oct 15, 2007, Kathleen Casey-Kirschling became the first baby boomer to make an early filing for Social Security benefits.
(SFC, 10/16/07, p.A8)

1947        Apr 10, Ronald Reagan and his wife Jane Wyman provided names to the FBI of Screen Actors Guild members believed to be communist sympathizers.
(SSFC, 6/9/02, p.F2)

1948        Jan 27, The 1st tape recorder sold.
(MC, 1/27/02)

1949        Jan 10, RCA introduced the 45 RPM record.
(MC, 1/10/02)

1950        Jun 24, In Brazil the Maracana stadium in Rio was officially inaugurated for the opening of soccer’s World Cup, the first in 12 years due to WW II.
(www.soccerhall.org/history/WorldCup_1950.htm)

1951         Jun 1, The first self-contained titanium plant opened in Henderson Nevada.
(DT, 6/1/97)

1952        Feb 29, The first pedestrian “Walk/Don’t Walk” signs were installed at 44th Street and Broadway at Times Square.
(HN, 2/29/00)

1953        Jan 6, Jazz trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie threw a party for his wife Lorraine at Snookie’s in Manhattan. His trumpet’s bell was bent upward in an accident, but he liked the sound and had a special trumpet made with a raised bell.
(SFEC, 7/27/97, DB p.34)

1954        Mar 22, The 1st shopping mall opened in Southfield, Mich.
(MC, 3/22/02)

1955        Mar 4, 1st radio facsimile transmission (fax) was sent across the continent.
(SC, 3/4/02)

1956        Mar, The Federal Hourly Minimum Wage was set at $1.00 an hour.
(http://usgovinfo.about.com/library/blminwage.htm)

1957        Jul 22, Walter “Fred” Morrison applied for a patent for a “flying toy” which became known as the Frisbee.
(AP, 7/22/07)

1958        Aug 4, Billboard, founded in 1894, premiered its all-genre singles Hot 100 chart.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Billboard_Hot_100)

1959        Aug 21, Hawaii became the 50th state as President Eisenhower signed an executive order, five months after he’d signed the Hawaiian statehood bill.

1960        May 9, The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the pill Enovid as safe for birth control use. The pill was made by G.D. Searle and Company of Chicago.

1961        Mar 18, The “Poppin’ Fresh” Pillsbury Dough Boy was introduced.
(MC, 3/18/02)

1962        Jan 30, Two members of the “Flying Wallendas” high-wire act were killed when their seven-person pyramid collapsed during a performance in Detroit.
(AP, 1/30/98

1963        Mar 21, The Alcatraz federal prison island in San Francisco Bay was emptied of its last inmates at the order of Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy.

1964        Jan, The Beatles made their North America TV debut on the Jack Paar Show. [see Feb 9, 1964]
(SFC, 1/28/04, p.A1)

1965        Mar 21, Martin Luther King Jr. led more than 3,000 civil rights demonstrators on the 50-mile march to Montgomery from Selma.
(SFEC, 3/16/97, p.T1)(AP, 3/21/97)

1966        Jan 1, By law all US cigarette packs began carrying the warning: “Caution! Cigarette smoking may be hazardous to your health.”
(www.americanheritage.com/articles/magazine/ah/1992/8/1992_8_72.shtml)

1967        Mar 3, The US performed a nuclear test at its Nevada Test Site. The Mushroom test was part of Operation Latchkey.
(www.absoluteastronomy.com/topics/Operation_Latchkey)

1968        Feb 10, Peggy Fleming of the United States won the gold medal in women’s figure skating at the Winter Olympic Games in Grenoble, France.
(AP, 2/10/97)

1969        Mar 3, Sirhan Sirhan testified in a court in Los Angeles that he killed Robert Kennedy.
(HN, 3/3/99)

1970        Jan 7, Woodstock, NY, farmers sued Max Yasgur (1919-1973) for $35,000 for damages caused by the “Woodstock” rock festival.
(www.woodstockpreservation.org/pastpresent/maxtribute.html)

1971        Jan 31, Astronauts Alan B. Shepard Jr., Edgar D. Mitchell and Stuart A. Roosa blasted off aboard Apollo 14 on a mission to the moon.
(AP, 1/31/98)

1972        Apr 17, A handful of women were first accepted as entrants to the Boston marathon.
(SFC, 3/10/00, p.D8)(www.boston.com/marathon/history/1972.shtml)

1973        May 14, US Supreme court approved equal rights to females in military.
(http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/cgi-bin/getcase.pl?court=US&vol=411&invol=677)

1974        Mar 1, A grand jury in Washington, DC, concluded that President Nixon was indeed involved in the Watergate cover-up.  7 people, including former Nixon White House aides H.R. Haldeman and John D. Ehrlichman, former Attorney General John Mitchell and former assistant Attorney General Robert Mardian, were indicted on charges of conspiring to obstruct justice in connection with the Watergate break-in. They were convicted the following January, although Mardian’s conviction was later reversed. In 2005 Vanity Fair Magazine revealed that W. Mark Felt (91), former FBI official, was the Watergate whistleblower Deep Throat, who helped bring down Pres. Nixon.
(HN, 3/1/98)(AP, 3/1/99)(AP, 6/1/05)

1975        Jan 1, The Federal Hourly Minimum Wage rose to $2.10 an hour.
(www.dol.gov/esa/minwage/coverage.htm)

1976        Jul 4, The nation held a 200th anniversary party across the land in celebration of America’s 200 years of independence. President Ford made stops in Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, Independence Hall in Philadelphia, and New York, where more than 200 ships paraded up the Hudson River in Operation Sail.
(TMC, 1994, p.1976)(IB, 12/7/98)(AP, 7/4/01)

1977        Jan 3, Apple Computers incorporated under Steven Jobs and Steve Wozniak. In March  Apple produced the Apple II, the first pre-assembled, mass-produced PC.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_Computer)(WSJ, 1/11/99, p.R42)

1978        Apr 7, A Gutenberg bible sold for a record $2.2 million in NYC. It was bought by Martin Breslauer for the state museum of Baden Wurttemberg.
(www.biblio.com/details.php?dcx=35363264&aid=frg)

1979        Jan 3, The top of the record charts included: Le Freak by Chic; Too Much Heaven by the Bee Gees; My Life by Billy Joel; The Gambler by Kenny Rogers.
(440 Int’l. 1/3/99)

1980        Feb 22, In a stunning upset, the U.S. Olympic hockey team defeated the Soviets at Lake Placid, N.Y., 4-3. The US team went on to win the gold medal.
(AP, 2/22/01)

1981        Mar 6, Walter Cronkite signed off for the last time as principal anchorman of “The CBS Evening News.”
(AP, 3/6/00)

1982        Apr 1, The U.S. transferred the Canal Zone to Panama.
(HN, 4/1/98)

1983        Sep 17, Vanessa Williams of New York became the first black contestant to be crowned “Miss America.” The following July, she also became the first Miss America to resign in the wake of her Penthouse magazine scandal.
(AP, 9/17/98)

1984        Feb 14, 6-year-old Stormie Jones became the world’s first heart-liver transplant recipient at Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh. She lived until November 1990.
(AP, 2/14/04)

1985        Jan 1, The 1st US mandatory seat belt law went into effect in NY.
(www.nysgtsc.state.ny.us/seat-ndx.htm)

1986        Mar 6, Georgia O’Keefe (98), US painter (Flowers), died in Santa Fe, NM.
(SSFC, 6/22/03, p.C8)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georgia_O’Keeffe)

1987        Jun 22, Fred Astaire (b.1899), Hollywood dancer, died at a Los Angeles hospital. His elegance and fancy footwork graced more than 30 films.

1988        Jan 3, Margaret Thatcher (b.1925) became the longest serving British PM this century.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/January_3)

1989        Mar 24, Good Friday. The nation’s worst oil spill occurred as the supertanker Exxon Valdez ran aground on a reef in Alaska’s Prince William Sound and began leaking 11 million gallons of crude. The Exxon Valdez struck ground in Alaska’s Prince William Sound and spilled 10.6 million gallons of oil. It was later renamed the Mediterranean and operated between Europe and the Middle East. Exxon then spent some $2.5 billion to clean up the spill and filed suit against Lloyd’s of London for reimbursement under a $210 million insurance policy. In 1996 a jury in Houston voted that Lloyd’s and some 250 other underwriters should compensate Exxon $250 million. The Exxon Valdez oil spill fouled approximately 1,000 miles of Alaska shoreline. The oil tanker ran aground in Prince William Sound, spilling some 11 million gallons of crude oil. An estimated 250,000 seabirds were killed. The Exxon Valdez spilled 240,000 barrels of oil in Alaska’s Prince William Sound.
(AP, 3/23/97)(TMC, 1994, p.1989)(SFC, 5/5/96, p.A-11)(SFC, 6/11/96, p.A10)(SFEC, 2/8/98, p.T5)(HNQ, 8/14/99)

1990        Jan 31, McDonald’s Corp. opened its first fast-food restaurant in Moscow.
(AP, 1/31/98)

1991        May 23, In a five-to-four vote, the US Supreme Court upheld regulations barring federally subsidized family planning clinics from discussing abortion with pregnant women, or from telling women where they could get abortions.
(AP, 5/23/01)

1992        Aug 24, Hurricane Andrew smashed into Florida causing record damage; 55 deaths in Florida, Louisiana and the Bahamas were blamed on the storm. It swept across Coral Gables, Florida, and destroyed two-thirds of the Fairchild Tropical Garden. It cost $15.5 bil in insured losses and was the most expensive natural disaster in US history. Insurance losses in the US and Bahamas totaled $21.5 billion.
(SFC, 7/12/96, p.A11)(AP, 8/24/97)(Econ, 8/21/04, p.62)(Econ, 9/17/05, p.73)