World's Oldest Person Dies

[indigohex]

Some sad news came out from Japan yesterday with the death of Misao Okawa from heart failure aged 117 in a nursing home in Osaka. She was the last Japanese person who was born in the 19th Century. There are now just four people who were born in the 1800s still alive as of 2015 (with American Gertrude Weaver being the oldest, born on 4 July 1898) with a further five born in 1900. She was survived by three children, four grandchildren and six great-grandchildren. (Source: World's oldest person dies at 117 ‹ Japan Today: Japan News and Discussion, World's oldest person Misao Okawa dies in Japan - BBC News).

 

[Lyrebird]

I hope she wrote some memoirs. That would be awesome.

Still living till 117, can't imagine it.

 

[Dr. Buni]

I am happy for her. Living that much can't possibly be a good thing.

 

[ocelotlrama jaguar]

She seemed like such a wonderful person after watching a few videos and interviews of her. I guess it was finally her time. May she rest in peace.

 

[Calvinッ]

Rest in peace, imagine, living after two world wars, and with the 'downgrading' of women, must have been horrible for her. But after all, she had to be strong to live for that long to be honest. But now she lies in a better place.

RIP Misao.

 

[Primal]

Oh, such sad news... but I hope the life she lived before she moved on was filled with happiness and may she rest in peace. I sincerely commend her for living such a long, long life.

 

[zakisrage]

It's amazing that people can live so long.

According to Wikipedia, her husband died in 1931 - that was 84 years ago. She spent most of her life as a widow. That made me rather sad...

My best friend had a great-grandmother who lived to be 106. (She died a year and a half ago.)

 

[dig]

After Okawa's passing, the oldest living person became Gertrude Weaver from Akansas. She also unfortunately has passed on this title as of April 6th to fellow American Jeralean Talley born 23 May 1899, this means that as of now there are only three verified people living amongst us that were born in the 19th century - two are African American women, and the third women lives in Italy. This of course means that there no longer any men from the 19th century, the current oldest man was born in 1903.

 

[indigohex]

Two deaths within a space of a week, which is quite sad. And I found out about Gertrude Weaver's death from the list of the verified oldest person list on Wikipedia (List of the verified oldest people - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia) just a few minutes ago.

There are now three born in 1899 and a further five born in 1900 (I count 1900 as part of the nineteenth century as I don't believe that there was a year zero, but that's a debate for another discussion thread).