Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Oldest Person in the World dies

rdowns

rdowns

macrumors Penryn
Jul 11, 2003
27,397
12,521
Not the oldest person on the world but the last known WWI veteran dies.

A woman thought to be the world's last known surviving service member of World War I has died aged 110.

Florence Green, from King's Lynn, Norfolk, served as a mess steward at RAF bases in Marham and Narborough.

She died in her sleep on Saturday night at Briar House care home, King's Lynn. Mrs Green had been due to celebrate her 111th birthday on 19 February.

The world's last known combat veteran of World War I, Briton Claude Choules, died in Australia aged 110 in May 2011.

The last three World War I veterans living in the UK - Bill Stone, Henry Allingham and Harry Patch - all died in 2009.
Click to expand...


http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-norfolk-16929653
 
SandboxGeneral

SandboxGeneral

Moderator emeritus
Sep 8, 2010
26,482
10,051
Detroit
This isn't local for me, but interesting nonetheless.

Brazilian who turned 126 years old last week could be oldest living person

Jose-Aguinelo_2975685b.jpg

A Brazilian man whose parents were African slaves could be the oldest living person ever documented after receiving a birth cerficate showing he turned 126 last week, it was reported on Tuesday.

Jose Aguinelo dos Santos was born on July 7 1888, just two months after slavery was abolished in Brazil - the last country in the world to outlaw the trade.

Yet the batchelor, who never married or had children, still walks without a stick, eats four meals a day and has no health problems - despite smoking a packet of cigarettes a day for the last 50 years.

Jose - known simply as Ze - was apparently 26 when the First World War broke out, and already a pensioner at 65 when Queen Elizabeth II ascended to the British throne.

If the birth certificate is genuine, he would have been 52 when Brazil football legend Pele was born - and 62 when Brazil last hosted the World Cup, in 1950.

One of five children, Jose was born in a slave compound in the town of Pedra Branca in the state of Ceara, northeast Brazil.

He was among hundreds of slave families who continued to live there, even after being granted their freedom.

He later travelled south to the state of Sao Paulo, where he spent most of his life working on a coffee plantation in the town of Bauru.

Now a resident of an old people's home in the same town, Jose likes to tell jokes and sing, hates having a bath, and never misses his daily plate of rice and beans.

And he told Brazil's G1 website there is no secret to living a long life: "The truth is that you just keep getting older. You take each stage at a time.

"If I got to this age it's because I've lived a lot, that's all."

Mariana Silva, psychologist at the Vila Vicentina home, said Jose has no health problems and is so lucid he still amuses other residents by cracking one-liners.

She said: "He's one of our most with-it residents.

"He doesn't have high cholesterol, diabetes or high blood pressure. The only medicine he takes are vitamins and a tablet to give him an appetite, which you can lose with old age.

"When he's on his own he likes to sing. None of us know the songs he sings. They're from a time no-one else remembers.

"He doesn't like to take a bath every day and it's sometimes impossible to get him to the shower. When he puts his foot down, that's it. No-one can get him in there."

Jose, who arrived at the home in 2001, received his birth certificate last month after living his entire life without any documents.

A team of experts arrived on his birth date after researching his past and interviewing him about his earliest memories, during which he was able to describe the slave compound perfectly.

The old people's home now hopes to provide conclusive evidence that he is the world's oldest man through 'Carbon-14' dating.

Jose Roberto Pires, the president of the retirement home, said they are determined to do the test even though it costs around £13,000.

But he added: "We are trying to find a way to do it without having to pay. This is very important. We believe the world's oldest ever person is living here with us, and this is the only way we can really prove it."
Click to expand...
 
Last edited:
V

vrDrew

macrumors 65816
Jan 31, 2010
1,376
13,412
Midlife, Midwest
Kahalu'u Bob said:
Wow. Carbon 14 dating of a living human? I don't understand how that would work. Good story, though!
Click to expand...

Carbon dating has been used to estimate the year of birth of unidentified human remains.

Basically, due to atmospheric nuclear weapons testing during the mid-20th century, the level of radioactive carbon levels in the atmosphere increased at a known rate between 1945 and the onset of the nuclear test-ban treaty. Because adult teeth are formed at known periods during childhood, and the tooth enamel captures a certain amount of atmospheric radio-carbon, by comparing the levels of such isotopes with those of other samples of individuals born during that period, one can estimate fairly accurately the year of birth.

However, in this instance I doubt it would be of any value. This person was supposedly born in the 1880s - decades before the first nuclear tests.
 
Last edited:
DUCKofD3ATH

DUCKofD3ATH

Suspended
Jun 6, 2005
541
2,419
Universe 0 Timeline
revenuee said:
awake 2 , sleep 2.. not a bad idea... i do... away for 1.5, sleep 3 hours, continue pattern for 4 more days, then sleep for 20 hours... LOL

ya i'm not hitting 116
Click to expand...

“God help me. I'm so tired. I need my sleep. I make no bones about it. I need eight hours a day, and at least ten at night. . . .”

--Bill Hicks
 
SandboxGeneral

SandboxGeneral

Moderator emeritus
Sep 8, 2010
26,482
10,051
Detroit
Mexican woman becomes world's 'oldest person'

I'm always amazed at the age of some folks still with us today, especially having been born in the 1800's!

Mexican woman becomes world's 'oldest person'

Leandra-Becerra-Lu_3022415b.jpg

She was 27 when World War One erupted, 75 when John F. Kennedy was shot and nearly 100 when the Berlin Wall came down.

Now Leandra Becerra Lumbreras is celebrating her latest milestone – becoming the oldest person who has ever lived.

According to relatives and friends, the chocolate-loving Mexican marks her 127th birthday today.

But there will not be any visits from officials at the Guinness Book of Records – she lost her birth certificate while moving house 40 years ago.

Supposedly born on August 31, 1887 – the year Queen Victoria celebrated her Golden Jubilee – she has attributed her long life to eating well, snacking on chocolate, sleeping for days on end and never getting married, according to her family.

Mexico's El Horizonte newspaper reported that the former seamstress, from the western city of Zapopan, has already seen her five children and several of her grandchildren die.

She apparently has 73 great-grandchildren and 55 great-great-grandchildren.

Granddaughter Miriam Alvear, 43, said: "She is entirely lucid. She blows your mind with her stories from the revolution.

"She was always a woman who fought. She was still sewing and weaving until about two years ago. She never ceased to be active, that's why we think she's lived so long."

She added: "Her parents were singers. She loves to entertain her grandchildren with the old songs they taught her.

"She's always had a good tooth, even at her old age. She has no diabetes or hypertension so can eat as many chocolates and sweets as she likes."

Despite her impressive feat of ageing, Ms Lumbreras is not officially recognised as the world's oldest human.

That title goes to Japan's Misao Okawa, who is 12 years younger.
Click to expand...
 
Southern Dad

Southern Dad

macrumors 68000
May 23, 2010
1,545
625
Shady Dale, Georgia
A couple years ago, the oldest living person was from our little town of Monroe, GA. Besse Cooper, one funny lady. She said she lived to 116 years old by "minding her own business and avoiding junk food". She's the 9th oldest person whose age could be verified.
 
whooleytoo

whooleytoo

macrumors 604
Aug 2, 2002
6,607
716
Cork, Ireland.
Amazing to think you can hit 60 - when most people think they're old and coming towards the end of their lives - and still have more than half your life to go!
 
Arran

Arran

macrumors 601
Mar 7, 2008
4,848
3,779
Atlanta, USA
whooleytoo said:
Amazing to think you can hit 60 - when most people think they're old and coming towards the end of their lives - and still have more than half your life to go!
Click to expand...

Yeah it is pretty amazing compared to life expectancies just 100 years ago. Scary thing is that you go into Act II with declining faculties:eek:

You know, maybe that's a good thing? :D
 
SandboxGeneral

SandboxGeneral

Moderator emeritus
Sep 8, 2010
26,482
10,051
Detroit
whooleytoo said:
Amazing to think you can hit 60 - when most people think they're old and coming towards the end of their lives - and still have more than half your life to go!
Click to expand...

It's an amazing thing to ponder upon. Imagine all of the historical events these people were alive for.
 
960design

960design

macrumors 68040
Apr 17, 2012
3,700
1,569
Destin, FL
kiwi_the_iwik said:
Peoples biorhythms work on a 4-hourly pattern. If you get a multiple of 4 hours of sleep (i.e. 4, 8, 12, etc) you feel more refreshed than if you slept out of that sequence (i.e. 3, 9, 11, etc).

It's a method used to great advantage during big ocean-going yacht races - such as the Whitbread Round-The-World race - where a crew would "shift-change" every 5 hours (and considering it would take around a half an hour to get out of your wet kit - and to put it back on - there's where you get your 4 hours of rest).
Click to expand...
That's a fairly generic statement; everyone is different. My tested cycle is 1.5 hours. I do best on 5.5 hours of sleep each night or 90 min naps.
 
bradl

bradl

macrumors 603
Jun 16, 2008
5,926
17,403
Joe Rossignol said:
Misao Okawa, the oldest verified living person in the world, has died at age 117.

5 Mar 1898 — 1 Apr 2015

Okawa, a Japanese woman, was the fifth verified person in the world to reach her 117th birthday.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Misao_Okawa
Click to expand...

And unfortunately, the next person in line for that title has just passed away as well.

http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way...rtrude-weaver-worlds-oldest-woman-dies-at-116

Gertrude Weaver, World's Oldest Woman, Dies At 116
April 06, 2015 5:12 PM ET
Krishnadev Calamur

Last week Gertrude Weaver of Arkansas became the world's oldest person. Weaver died Monday at the age of 116. The cause was complications from pneumonia, according to KATV.

Weaver died at the Silver Oaks Health and Rehabilitation Center in Camden, Ark., where she was a resident, the TV station reported.

She would have turned 117 on the Fourth of July and said she wanted President Obama to attend her birthday party.

As Bill reported last week, Weaver became the world's oldest woman upon the death of Japan's Misao Okawa, who died at the age of 117.

Reuters reports that Weaver, the daughter of sharecroppers, was born in Arkansas near the Texas border and worked as a domestic helper. Last week, upon assuming the title of world's oldest person, she said the secret to her longevity was being kind to everyone and eating her own cooking, the news service added.

With Weaver's death, the oldest person in the world is Jeralean Talley, who lives in the Detroit area. She was born on May 23, 1899, according to the Gerontology Research Group, which tracks such data.
Click to expand...

I believe that leaves less than a handful left of those alive who were born in the 19th Century.

BL.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom