Home Depot’s oldest employee, 100, still helping customers

At 100 years old, JoCleta Wilson still isn’t ready to retire — but she is ready to share her tips for a long life.

Wilson works two mornings a week, from 6 a.m. to 10 a.m., at a Home Depot in Louisville, Kentucky — making her the company’s oldest employee in the U.S.

The centenarian applied to the job to socialize and engage with people after retirement bored her.

“That is because I want to communicate with people,” Wilson told WAVE 3 News. “If you are not working, you lose your art of conversing.

“I’ve retired three times. Each time was 10 years, and I’ve gotten so sick of myself, I couldn’t stand it,” she quipped.

She celebrated her most recent milestone birthday last October with a lively shindig at her home, featuring two piano players and 80 guests, and a “huge party” hosted by Home Depot.

Wilson lives independently in her own house, driving herself to work and the store, not to mention cooking for herself.

She hires help for cleaning and yard work, explaining to TODAY.com with a laugh, “I could do it, but I don’t want to. I’ve gotten a little smarter by this age.”

But Wilson doesn’t necessarily feel her age.

“I feel like I’m 39 heading into 40. That’s how it feels,” she noted.

The energetic woman is a breast cancer survivor with emphysema, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and a pacemaker, but insists that “everything else works just fine” and remains remarkably active as she has all of her life.

“You can’t sweat the small stuff. So, I just don’t think about it,” she said.

Wilson was a professional dancer for much of her life, starting as a child and later performing with the June Taylor Dancers doing rhythm tap.

For 37 years, she owned and taught at the Louisville Dance Academy and still dances daily. She uses her Alexa speaker to play music that inspires her to let loose.

“I have the radio everywhere. Thank goodness for Alexa. I tell her to play something that’s really good to jump to, and I have at it,” she said. “I let go and move and do what I want to do, and it feels good. That’s my exercise.”

Wilson embraces creativity, which she believes is key to a fulfilling life.

Along with dancing, she’s written a cookbook, paints — she has an Instagram page showcasing her artwork, available for purchase — sings and is learning the piano.

Her healthy diet is also very important to her. After being diagnosed with cancer three times, she recalled advice from a nurse: “Cancer feeds on sugar.”

So, she quit that — more or less.

“I always have a chocolate cake in my freezer,” she admitted, as she does allow herself the occasional sweet treat. “I take a slice but maybe once a week.” She also keeps ice cream in the freezer and has a tablespoon once in a while.

She’s also given up bacon and cheese after high cholesterol issues and now only eats lean proteins and avoids white flour.

But her advice for a long life isn’t about diet or exercise.

“I always say: Don’t sweat the small stuff. Don’t worry. Don’t let everything make you angry. Anger takes a lot of muscle and a lot of good out of your life,” Wilson said.

“It’s so much easier to think positive than to think negative. It takes a lot less effort. And that’s what I try to do.”