Do you think life gets old every now and then? You don’t know anything. Unless, of course, you’re one of the ten people on this list.
Kamato Hongo, 116 years 45 days
Hongo, a Japanese supercentenarian, apparently was the oldest living person from March 2002 until her death in 2003. She lived in Kagoshima and celebrated her 116th birthday a month before her death from pneumonia.
Carrie C. White, Age: 116 years 88 days
Carrie C. White was recognized by Guinness world records as the oldest person in the world at around the time of her 114th birthday in 1988. While her documentation is up to dispute, she appears to hold the title of world’s oldest person between January 11th 1988 and February 14th 1991.
Elizabeth Bolden, 116 years 118 days
Did you know that the US has more supercentenarians than any country in the world? That’s a fun fact that’ll make you the star of your very next party. However, one should also note the US is not considered a land of longevity, due to the number per capita. Bolden, a native of the States, was one of only seven people worldwide that lived until age 116. In addition to Lizzie’s seven children she had 40 grand-children, 75 great grand-children, 150 great-great grand-children, 220 great-great-great grand-children, and 75 great-great-great-great grand-children.
Tane Ikain, Age: 116 years 175 days
Ikain is Japan’s oldest female on record. She outlived her daughter and her three sons, making her the closest possible example of Benjamin Button. Ikain survived on three meals of rice gruel a day. She died at age 116 and 175 days of kidney failure. Her body was the first of a supercentenarian known to be autopsied.
Maria Esther Heredia de Capovilla, Age: 116 years 347 days
Maria was a supercentenarian born in Ecuador and, until the time of her death, was recognized as the world’s oldest living person. She was the oldest documented person to have lived in three centuries. She never smoked or drank hard liquor, unlike others on this list.
Marie-Louise Meilleur, Age: 117 years 230 days
Meilleur was a French-Canadian supercentenarian. By the time she died of a blood clot at age 117, her son was already in the same nursing home and her oldest living daughter was 90 years old. She was said to be a vegetarian and an “avid cigarette smoker.”
Lucy Hannah, Age: 117 years 248 days
Hannah is the oldest African American to have ever lived and the oldest American at the time of her death. She is also, strangely, the oldest person to have never held the title of oldest living person because she coincided with Jeanne Calment.
Sarah Knauss, Age: 119 years 97 days
Sarah Knauss, was the oldest person to have ever lived in America. She died 33 hours before the year 2000. Sarah Knauss lived her entire life in Pennsylvania. She was born in a small coal-mining town called Hollywood. Not the same Hollywood you and I would think of.
Shigechiyo Izumi, Age: 120 years 237 days
Izumi is another disputed case, however, Guinness World Record still maintains that his record is valid. Izumi is unique on a list of supercentenarians because he is male. There is a pattern of longevity that seems to favor women. He also holds the world record for the longest working life, a staggering 98 years. Izumi drank brown sugar shochu, an alcoholic beverage distilled from barley or rice and took up smoking at age 70.
Jeanne Calment, Age: 122 years 164 days
Calment’s lifespan has been thoroughly documented, with more proof of her age than for any other case. Calment, at age 90, had no living heirs. She made a deal to sell her apartment to lawyer Andrea-Francois Raffray on a reverse mortgage. However, what would appear as a very smart investment didn’t exactly go as planned. The man who made the deal with Calment agreed to pay her 2,500 francs every month until her death. Sounds like a smart move on his part considering she was 90 years old. He ended up paying her what equates to $180,000, which is more than double the apartment’s worth.
At age 85 Jeanne took up fencing and at age 100 she was still riding a bicycle. Her vices include smoking cigarettes until age 117 and eating almost one kilogram (2.2lbs) of chocolate per week.
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