Surely you heard the story of Ann Nixon Cooper in Obama's victory speech on Tuesday night. What you might not have heard is that her grandson graduated from UF in 1986. Ernest Hooper is now a columnist at the St. Petersburg Times but he once walked our campus as public relations student and even wrote for The Alligator (though, lets be real, who hasn't?)

Cooper's son had this to say about his grandmother's part in Tuesday's historic night:

“I got a little teary–eyed, certainly. She has been the matriarch of her family for such a long time. She means so much to all of us.” 

Hooper also said that one of the best parts of the whole experience was being able to show his kids, two teenage sons and seven year old daughter, the footage in the morning of the next president describing their great-grandmother's life. 

Hooper also thinks (and rightly so) that his grandmother will be invited to Obama's inauguration in January. 

I think we can all agree that Ann Nixon Cooper is ten times better than Joe the Plumber. Don't get me wrong, I'm sure Joe has seen a lot of change in piping and whatnot, but it doesn't really compare to being born one generation removed from slavery and living long enough to help vote the first African American into office.

She's also aged extremely well for being older than a century. Just sayin'.