Women Supercentenarian Photos File No. 2 of 15

Who is the World's Oldest Married Couple?

Who is the Current Candidate for the World's Oldest Living Person?

See information below about Mrs. Kamato Hongo , who died at age 116.

October 30, 2002; Mr. Robert Young has sent us this photo from today's St. Petersburg Times of

Miss Mary L. Parr who was born on February 1, 1889 in Indiana and died on October 29, 2002 in Florida at the age of 113 years 270 days. Mary never married, never had children, and has outlived nearly all her relatives. [ Editor's Note: This just in from Mrs. Susan Prine Nichols... "Mary Parr was my Father's Aunt. Her Sister Lillian Prine was my Grandmother. My six children and I are her only remaining relatives."\ She lived most recently in a retirement center in St. Petersburg, FL. More details of her life can be found in her Obituary from the Associated Press...
"Mary L. Parr, 113; Said to Be Oldest Resident of U.S.," The Los Angeles Times, p. B17 (October 31, 2002).

[ Editor's Note: In its Obituary, the AP acknowledged this website and the Gerontology Research Group, "a non profit organization that studies aging," for establishing Mary Parr's status as "Oldest American." We therefore wish to recognize the work of our Centenarian Committee members who have caused this Gerontology Research Group to become, over the years, the defacto standard that other experts turn to when authenticating facts regarding this admittedly-specialized field of human demography. Thank you; and keep up the good work! See information about Committee members at the bottom of our Tables web page containing Tables A-E, etc..]

October 30, 2002; The current oldest living American (by about a week) is now

Mary Dorothy (Perry) Christian born June 12, 1889 in Massachusetts and who currently resides in San Pablo, California. Mr. Louis Epstein of New York reports that Prof. John Wilmoth, a well-known demographer with the University of California at Berkeley (which is not very far away from San Pablo), went to visit Mrs. Christian on December 1, 2002. He reported that she is not very well physically, having severe problems with both her senses and her mobility, but is otherwise reasonably alert. Thank you to Mr. Robert Young of Atlanta, Georgia, our GRG Senior Claims Investigator, for providing us with the photo above taken when she was age 104. Mr. Young has now obtained a more recent photo below taken at age 113...

April 22, 2003; Mr. Michael Rinna reported that Mrs. Christian died on the afternoon of Easter Sunday, April 20, 2003 of pneumonia at age 113 years 312 days.

March 15, 2001; Mr. Robert Young sent us the following photo of

Mr. Giovanni Frau age 112, born December 29, 1890, with Dr. Michel Poulain.

June 22, 2003; We have just learned that Giovanni Frau died on Friday, June 20th at age 112 years, 170 days. Frau is survived by two sons and a daughter three of his eight children. His wife died in 1995 at the age of 90.

Ref:

AP, "Giovanni Frau, 112; Italy's Oldest Man," The Los Angeles Times, p. B17 (June 22, 2003).

August 23, 2002; Mrs. Adelina (Engargiola) Domingues , recently accepted as the oldest living American at 114 years old, has died. We have just learned from her grand-daughter that Mrs. Domingues died on Wednesday, August 21, 2002 at 1:30 PM PDT of congestive heart failure at the San Diego nursing home in Spring Valley, CA where she lived. She was born February 19, 1888 in Brava, Cape Verde Islands (off the coast of West Africa). After her marriage, she moved to Massachusetts in 1907.

Adelina attributed her longevity to her daily regimen of eating vegetables and beans and her life-long abstinence from any form of alcohol or tobacco. But she also thought she lived longer because she "never played cards or went to a beauty parlor," something she was very proud of. She was also an expert seamstress.

Information has been provided to us by her daughter-in-law Rosalie Domingues of Santee, CA. For more details, see Tony Perry, "Adelina Domingues, 114; Oldest Person in the U.S.," The Los Angeles Times, p. B20 (August 24, 2002) for her Obituary.

August 20, 2001; Mr. Robert Young located the above two photos of Mary Electa Bidwell of Connecticut. She was born on May 9, 1881 five months before President James Garfield was assassinated. She was teaching in a one-room school house in 1903 when Orville and Wilbur Wright first powered an airplane. She died on April 25, 1996 at 114 years, 352 days -- just 14 days (or a mere two weeks) shy of her 115th birthday.

August 31, 2001; Mr. Robert Young took this photo of

Mrs. Geneva (O'Kelley) McDaniel on January 3, 1999. She was born on August 26, 1887. She was an avid fan of exercise, drove a race car at 105 years, appeared on David Letterman's show in 1990 (at 103), and was teaching an aerobics class at age 108. From [1987 - 1999] she appeared in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution 27 times. She had a mentality that said "never say die," "never quit." After age 110, becoming bedridden was just another obstacle for her to overcome. She died on April 6, 1999 at age 111 years, 223 days and was a member of the Georgia Centenarian Study Group.

November 2, 2001; According to Mr. Robert Young,

Mrs. Amy Isabel (Matthews) Hulmes, born October 5, 1887, formerly England's oldest living person, died on October 27, 2001 at the age of 114 years in Bury, UK. (Amy Hulmes succeeded Eva Morris who died in November last year also at the age of 114.)

August 16, 2001; Mr. Robert Young of Atlanta, Georgia located a photo of

Eva (Sharpe) Morris (with care-assistant Ms. Debbie Cummings). During her reign, she was the world's oldest person for a longer time than Marie Brémont was.

Therefore, the title of "England's Oldest Living Person" now passes to

Nellie (Greenwood) Bradley, born September 12, 1889, and currently 112 years old. Mr. Robert Young sent us this photo on May 25, 2001.

March 15, 2002 (AP) -- This just in from Mr. Louis Epstein...
Mrs. Bradley died Monday, March 11th in Silsden in Northeast England .at age 112 years 180 days. The Guinness Book of Records has not yet recognized a new oldest living Briton.
Ref: Obituary Section, The Los Angeles Times, p. B17 (March 16, 2002).

March 26, 2002; Mr. Robert Young of Atlanta, Georgia sent us this photo of

Mrs. Jessamine (Jessie) (Thompson) Nicholls, born on January 25, 1892. She was the Oldest Person in the UK until she died on October 30, 2002 at age 110 years, 278 days. The photographer who took her picture was Mr. Richard Grange associated with
Ms. Tori Parr
Argus Pictures, Commercial & Syndication
Argus House
Brighton, BN1 8AR; UK
Telephone: 011-01273-544-614
FAX: 011-01273-544-594
E-mail: pictures@theargus.co.uk.
To click through to the Argus Pictures website in Brighton, England, click on the photo above.
The latest title-holder for the "Oldest Person in the UK" is now believed to be Mrs. Lucy D'Abreu of SCOTLAND, who was born on May 24, 1892.

December 9, 2005; We have just learned that Lucy D'Abreu died on December 7, 2005 at age 113 years and 197 days.

June 29, 2002; Mr. Jan Kuiper of Holland and Mr. Bart Versieck of Belgium have just sent us these photos of Mrs. Hendrikje Van Andel-Schipper, the oldest Dutch woman in The Netherlands. She was born on June 29, 1890 and has just turned 112 years old. She celebrated her birthday in good health. Mentally, she's very quick, but physically a bit less so. She still enjoys life but says "The days are long when no one comes to visit." She just can't do much anymore; her vision is too bad. Better known as "Aunt Hennie", Mrs. Van Andel is the second person to reach 112 in The Netherlands.

June 29, 2005; We are pleased to note that Mrs. Van Andel celebrated her 115th birthday today and we believe that the last photo of her with Princess Laurentien of Holland was taken on this occasion.

August 31, 2005; We are sad to report that Aunt Henny died at a home for the elderly in Hoogeveen, Netherlands on August 30th.

July 14, 2002; Mr. Robert Young has sent us this photo from the The Augusta Chronicle of

Mrs. Agnes Mary (Brix) Rich U.S. (NE) was born January 20, 1892 and died on December 31, 2003 at age 111 years, 345 days.

July 14, 2002; Mr. Bart Versieck of Belgium has sent us (by way of Mr. Gert Jan Kuiper of the Netherlands) this photo of

Mrs. Catharina 'Kaatje' Van Dam-Groeneveld. She was born November 20, 1887 and died February 16, 2001 at the age of 113 years, 88 days. Mrs. Van Dam is the oldest validated Dutch centenarian on record.

July 1, 2002; Mr. Bart Versieck of Belgium and Mr. Robert Young have just sent us some photos of

Mrs. Joanna Catharina "Woinke" Deroover-Turcksin, the oldest Belgian ( Flemish) person ever. She was born on June 3, 1890 and was 112 years of age at the time of these photos. Her Grandson, Mr. Lejo Vanhaelen of Belgium has sent us the fourth photo of his Grandmother on March 28, 2005. We have now learned that Mrs. Turcksin-Deroover died on December 6, 2002 at age 112 years, 186 days.

October 14, 2002; Mr. Bart Versieck of Belgium has just sent us this photo (by way of Mr. Robert Young of Atlanta, Georgia and Mr. Dany Chambre of Belgium) of

Mrs. Marie-Louise Alice De Ruyver born in Belgium on February 10, 1889. She died on March 14, 1999 at age 110 years, 32 days. [ Editor's Note: The dates under the photo are given in European format.]

August 16, 2001; Mr. Louis Epstein of New York has just been informed that Mrs. Mie Ishiguro of Japan died August 14, 2001 at 113 years, 74 days. We will be updating Table E below in the next few days to reflect this change and note, in passing, that there are currently only 27 Supercentenarians still living and the male-to-female ratio has gone up slightly.

July 1, 2002; Mr. Robert Young of Atlanta, GA has provided us with this photo from the St. Petersburg Times of

Mrs. Grace M. (Taylor) Clawson British/American (from the state of Florida) who was born on November 15, 1887 and died on May. 28, 2002 at age 114 years, 194 days. She was the oldest American alive at the time of her death, long thought to be born in 1889 Her relatives discovered the true date-of-birth from a Birth Certificate that they received from England, her birth country, and where she lived until she moved in her childhood. This means that she was the second oldest person still alive. More photos and details are on the St. Petersburg Times website.

July 20, 2002; Mr. Bart Versieck of Belgium has sent us (by way of Dr. John McCormack of Australia) a Black-and-White photo of

Mrs. Beatrice Flora (McPherson) Mears, the second oldest Australian woman (behind Christina Cock, who meanwhile has also died). She was born on March 4, 1888 and died on December 3, 2001 at 113 years, 274 days..

November 29, 2001; Mr. Robert Young has just provided us with a photo of the oldest living man on the island of Okinawa (and the fourth-oldest man in JAPAN). Mr. Kama Nakasone, now aged 110, was born on November 23, 1891. Mr. Young reports, "What's more remarkable is that he appears full of life, not waiting to die." We have now learned that Mr. Nakasone died on January 1, 2003 at 111 years 39 days.

July 18, 2001; Mr. Robert Young has identified Maria Laqua as the oldest living woman in Germany (aged 112 years, born February 12, 1889);

[ Copyright: Herr Harald Wenzel-Orf photographer of Germany.] Born on February 12, 1889 in Rheydt, she was one of 13 children of a working-class family. After marrying Karl Laqua, she gave birth to two sons, Paul and Karl- Heinz. They both died in 1945 while fighting for the German Army in World War II. Then, in 1958, she lost her husband as well. In 1968, she moved into the nursing home 'St. Elisabeth' in Bad Hönningen in the German state of Rheinland-Pfalz. She became the oldest individual in Germany on March 29, 1999, when Wilhelm Schorner passed away at age 110. She went on to hold this title for almost three years until she died on March 9, 2002 at age 112 years and 362 days. Maria Laqua was the first person in Germany to reach the age of 112 and still heads the age- list of all validated German Supercentenarians. An interesting side-note: All three German women who ever turned 12 years old were born in 1889, with Rosalia Hasenkampf and Meta Berndt completing this elite club.

Mr. Young has now informed us that Mrs. Maria Laqua passed away on February 9, 2002, just three days shy of her 113th birthday.

[ Copyright: Herr Harald Wenzel-Orf photographer of Germany.]

December 3, 2002; Mr. Robert Young has just informed us that Mrs. Rosalia Hasenkampf passed away on July 10, 2002."
She was the second-oldest (born October 1, 1889), while
Mrs. Magdalene Regener, see below, has become the newest oldest German woman.

Mrs. Meta Berndt (born November 9, 1889) who was the second-oldest living German woman (photo taken on her 110th birthday).

April 15, 2002; It appears that Mrs. Berndt died on December 28, 2001 at age 112: See E-termine.de for more details.

An article on Magdalene Regener, born March 5, 1891, said that she is was the second-oldest German, behind a "112-year-old from Munster" (i.e., Hasenkampf above).
March 25, 2003; We have just learned that she may have died toward the end of November 2002.

Here ends the 2nd file containing Photos of Women Supercentenarians.
Click to continue to File No. 3 of 15.