The world’s oldest living person, 116-year-old Elizabeth ”Lizzy” Bolden, died on December 11 at the Mid-South Health and Rehabilitation Centre in Memphis, Tennessee, according to her grandson.
”She was always very family-oriented. She gave good advice and the family listened. She was a hard worker, and a farmer for most of her life,” said James Bolden, who came from the Philippines last week to visit his grandmother.
Elizabeth Bolden was born on August 15 1890, according to the Gerontology Research Group, a Los Angeles-based organisation that tracks the ages of the world’s oldest people.
Guinness World Records recognised Bolden as the oldest person in August after the death of Maria Ester de Capovilla of Ecuador, who previously was listed as the oldest.
She is survived by two daughters (her two sons passed away), 40 grandchildren, 75 great-grandchildren, 150 great-great-grandchildren, 220 great-great-great grandchildren and 75 great-great-great-great grandchildren.
Bolden, who married at 19 and whose husband died in the 1950s, was not active at the end of her life and spent much of her time sleeping. — Sapa-AFP, Sapa-AP