America Has a New Oldest Living Person

After the death of Edith “Edie” Ceccarelli, 116, in Northern California, a woman from Texas has now become the oldest living American.

Elizabeth Francis, 114, is currently the country’s oldest documented living person as she has been alive for 114 years and over 7 months.

The Gerontology Research Group ranking shows that Francis, who is now number one in the United States, is also the fifth oldest person in the world. The four people above her are 114-year-old Juan Vicente Perez Mora, 115-year-old, Inah Canabarro Lucas, 115-year-old Tomiko Itooka, and 116-year-old Maria Branyas Moera (Spain, 116).

Ceccarelli who used to be the oldest woman living in the country has spent her entire life in California. She died on Feb. 22, only 17 days after she had turned 116. The woman’s birthday celebrations had become a tradition in Mendocino County, the small county where she resided.

Following the death of her mother in 1920, Francis along with her five siblings had been sent to different homes. This is how she ended up in Houston where she was raised by one of her aunts.

Dorothy Williams, her 94-year-old daughter, has been living with Francis since 1999. She also has three grandchildren, five great-grandchildren, and four great-great-grandchildren. One of her granddaughters is also helping with her care.

Her family has a history of longevity as her sister who passed away in 2011 had lived up to the age of 106. The pair was one of the oldest combined siblings in the history of the world. By Featured News.com)