The Hindu : Front Page : Oldest woman dies in Portugal at 115

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Sunday, Jan 04, 2009
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Oldest woman dies in Portugal at 115

Maria de Jesus

LISBON: A Portuguese woman who lived to see five of her great-great grandchildren born and was believed to have been the world’s oldest person has died at the age of 115. Maria de Jesus died in an ambulance near the central Portuguese town of Tomar.

She had been listed by the Guinness Book of World Records as the world’s oldest person. That title now falls to an American, 114-year-old Gertrude Baines, who lives in a Los Angeles nursing home.

Born on September 10, 1893, de Jesus was widowed at 57, outlived three of her six children, had 11 grandchildren and 16 great-grandchildren.

On Friday, she ate breakfast normally, but then was taken to hospital because of a swelling, her daughter Maria Madalena said. De Jesus was 115 years and 114 days old.

“I regret the death of this lady, she really was the sweetest person,” town councilor Ivo Santos said in Tomar.

There are now only 82 women and nine men verified as being 110 or older, according to gerontologist Stephen Coles of the Gerontology Research Group at the University of California, Los Angeles.

But he said there could be hundreds more in countries and continents such as China, India or Africa where they would not have caught the attention of the Gerontology Research Group. This small volunteer organisation tracks supercentenarians and verifies their birth dates through birth certificates and other documents.

Dr. Coles said the supercentenarians appear to share one trait that might account for their longevity — they come from families whose members are long-lived.

“Whether they drink alcohol or not, it doesn’t matter. Whether they smoke cigarettes or not doesn’t seem to matter,” he said. “The thing that does seem to matter is that they chose their parents… wisely.”

“It’s in the genes. It’s in the DNA,” he said.

Ms. Baines — the new titleholder, born in Georgia on April 6, 1894 — spent most of her life in Ohio, where she worked as a dormitory housekeeper at Ohio State University in Columbus, Dr. Coles said. Her only daughter died at age 18.

Dr. Coles said he asked the staff at the Western Convalescent Hospital to tell Ms. Baines she is now the oldest living documented person in the world. “She’s very healthy. Her only complaint, as far as I can tell, is arthritis in her left knee,” he said. She uses a wheelchair. He described her as mentally sharp, saying “she doesn’t forget anything.”

She voted in the November presidential election. The vote was for Barack Obama “‘cause he’s for the coloured people,” said Ms. Baines, who is black and the daughter of former slaves. — AP

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