Not everyone lives to be 104, and if you do, you want to have done enough good in your life for people to want to celebrate it. Gerald was one of them, and he became more famous than he ever could have imagined. His son, Kevin Mills, went on Twitter and told people that his father was turning 104 and asked if they could send him birthday wishes.
Mills also showed a cute picture of his dad. “This is Gerald, my dad. He will be 104 on July 12,” Mills wrote in a tweet. “Is there a chance I can get 104 birthday wishes from Twitter? He will be amazed and confused at the same time.” The simple birthday wish turned into a cute thread where people shared pictures and birthdays of people they cared about, most of which were grandparents.
The tweet got a lot of responses, and the 100-year-old got a lot more than 104 birthday wishes. More than 423,000 people liked the tweet.
Adam Hill posted a photo of his young daughter and wrote that he hoped she would live as long as him. He also said that he hoped he would live as long as her. “Happy Birthday to Gerald. This is my three-month-old daughter Flora. She was born 12 weeks early and just came home to us”.
“Hope she gets to 104, too,” the tweet said. Some people showed pictures of their older relatives while they wished him well. Joanna posted a picture of her grandmother, who is 101 years old, and wrote, “Happy birthday, Gerald! Bridget, my grandma, has the same birthday as your dad. This year, she’ll be 101.
“Hats off and many, many happy returns to these two very special centenarians and everyone else on here!” Another person posted a picture of their baby granddaughter and wrote, “Cheers, Gerald! The 12th of July is also my birthday, so here’s to us! My new granddaughter thinks that being cute is the key to living a long life, but I think you already know that from your picture!”
Mark Hamill, who played Luke Skywalker in “Star Wars,” shared an emoji of a cake and the words “For Gerald.” Even Stephen Fry, the English actor and comedian, got in on the act, writing, “Happy birthday Gerald! xx” Another person gave his grandmother and her sister a picture of Gerald as a way to wish him well. “Can we get 105 likes for my 105-year-old grandma Mary on the left and 104 likes for her 104-year-old sister Tina in the middle? This is from my visit with them today, when I saw that they both live on their own in their own houses.”
Happy Birthday to Gerald. My dad shares your birthday, July 12th. This year, he would have been 70, but he died on May 14.
The simple tweet became a campaign that was even talked about on the radio. A tweet said, “Happy Birthday Gerald from 94.5 KHI in Ocean City, MD,” and it linked to a video of the radio host talking about it.
Sharon Steed posted a picture of her late father sitting on a couch with a cute dog. “Happy birthday to Gerald!! My dad lived to be 86 (this is him with my dog, Washington, before he died at Christmas); he probably would have talked all day and eaten all the cake with you today!”
Someone even shared the newspaper from Gerald’s birthday.