Yahoo – AFP,
7 April 2015
American
Gertrude Weaver, the world's oldest
person, died Monday morning of
complications
from pneumonia (AFP Photo)
|
Jeralean
Talley, who lives in the Detroit suburb of Inkster, Michigan, was born in the
southern US state of Georgia on May 23, 1899 -- making her exactly 115 years
and 320 days old as of Tuesday.
She was
declared the world's oldest person by the Gerontology Research Group, which
tracks those it calls "supercentenarians" -- senior citizens who live
past the age of 110.
She is also
one of only three people still alive today with documented proof that they were
born in the 1800s. The others reside in New York state and in Italy.
"I
feel good," Talley told Time magazine in a telephone call Monday. "I
don't feel sick. I'm still trying to do the right thing is all."
Older
people may exist, but the Gerontology Research Group says it needs to see firm
evidence, like a birth certificate, for someone to make its list.
Gertrude
Weaver, 116, had been declared the world's oldest person last Wednesday upon
the death of Japan's 117-year-old Misao Okawa.
But she
passed away Monday from complications from pneumonia at a nursing home in
Arkansas where she lived, Little Rock television station KATV reported.
Asked by
the Detroit Free Press newspaper for the secret of her longevity, Weaver, who
is African-American, pointed a finger to the heavens.
"It's
coming from above. That's the best advice I can give you. It's not in my hands
or your hands," she said.
Talley's
daughter Thelma Holloway, 77, said her mother, though hard of hearing, often
stays up until midnight and gets around the house on her own.
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