World's oldest woman / man

[Thrifty]

Whenever I think about people with record longevity (as in, over 110 years old), I think about how, the generations if that person had a kid at a fairly young but not teen age (I put the age at 23) and then that kid did the same, and so on and so on. How many greats separate the youngest (a mere child) from this elderly person? I can never really remember, so I'm always doing the math again. I guess it goes something like this, with a 116 year old man named Bob.

Bob, age 116
Bob Jr., age 93
Bob III, age 70
Bob IV, age 47
Bob V, age 24
Bob VI, age 1

So Bob is extremely old and can barely see his great-great-great grandson. It's tight, but I guess this is about as many generations you can fit into one human lifespan. Though I guess it's in the realm of possibility, I've never heard of anyone referring to their great-great-great grandchildren. I've read some obituaries that referred to a great-great grandchild, and that staggered my mind.

I get fascinated by prospects such as being an adult with a living great-great grandfather. Or being very old but still having a living father. Or being merely kinda old and visiting your grandfather. Or being middle aged and having a great-grandfather.

[Thrifty]

Originally Posted by MapleLeaf

Well, once you hit 100 your odds of dying on any given day are probably pretty high. So when we're talking 110+ it's bound to happen a lot.

Kevin Nealon, in his stand up routine, said that his 101 year old grandmother had a near-death experience. But, he said that at that age, just about everything is a near-death experience.

[snopes]

A recent case of a woman accused of collecting the pension of her dead father, who would have been 111, has sparked an effort to account for all the thousands of centenarians on Japan's rolls. As society changes, many are living, and dying, alone.

http://articles.latimes.com/2010/sep...rians-20100905

[llewtrah]

More than 230,000 Japanese centenarians 'missing'

The Justice Ministry said some of those unaccounted for may have died as long ago as World War II or emigrated, possibly during the post-war turmoil and their details never reported.

Seems the authorities are now concerned that the welfare system is being exploited by dishonest relatives, some claiming benefits for many decades after a person's death.

[snopes]

Though I guess it's in the realm of possibility, I've never heard of anyone referring to their great-great-great grandchildren. I've read some obituaries that referred to a great-great grandchild, and that staggered my mind.

Henry 'Pop' Brown Sr., 98, saw the birth of 379 grandchildren

By the time "Pop," as he was called, died at his home at age 98, he had seen the birth of 10 children and a school's worth of younger offspring: 61 grandchildren, 130 great-grandchildren, 162 great-great-grandchildren, and 26 great-great-great-grandchildren.

http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/he...th-921685.html

[Eddylizard]

Mr. Brown's death came as a surprise to the family

He was 98. How much of a surprise could it have been? To quote an old phrase "he'd had his innings".

[Richard W]

Originally Posted by Thrifty

Whenever I think about people with record longevity (as in, over 110 years old), I think about how, the generations if that person had a kid at a fairly young but not teen age (I put the age at 23) and then that kid did the same, and so on and so on. How many greats separate the youngest (a mere child) from this elderly person?

Back in the Eighties there was a children's programme called Record Breakers, with Roy Castle and Norris McWhirter, based on the Guinness Book of Records. One week they had a family who'd just broken the record (or matched - I think it was just the British record at the time, or something) for number of surviving generations, with a girl who'd just had a baby, and then (I think) her mother and at least three further female grandparents. So the eldest woman would have been the great-great-great grandmother of the baby.

I think that there were six generations, anyway. (It might even have been seven). I don't remember. As a child I was oblivious, but these days I'm just more surprised that they actually put the family on, and told you everybody's ages, since I'm sure some of them must have been these "evil teenage mothers" that can corrupt innocent children on sight. Surely there must have been complaints from the narrow-minded. Hmm, thinking about it, maybe that's why I'm corrupt...

[snopes]

A 114-year-old East Texas woman could now be the oldest person in the world.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories...TAM&SECTION=US

[snopes]

A Virginia woman who marked her 109th birthday days after her 108th Christmas said her longevity is the result of her "happy, normal life."

http://www.upi.com/Odd_News/2010/12/...3111293701400/

[snopes]

Florida's oldest resident, a 112-year-old woman counted among the world's 25 oldest people by a research group, has died.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories...TAM&SECTION=US

[ganzfeld]

Originally Posted by snopes

By the time "Pop," as he was called, died at his home at age 98, he had seen the birth of 10 children and a school's worth of younger offspring: 61 grandchildren, 130 great-grandchildren, 162 great-great-grandchildren, and 26 great-great-great-grandchildren.

Damn, that's a hell of a lot of bread winners.

[snopes]

A Guinness World Records representative traveled to a Monroe nursing home to present 114-year-old Besse Cooper her official certificate for being the world's oldest living person.

http://www.azcentral.com/offbeat/art...son-besse.html

[snopes]

The Guinness Book of World Records says it has disproved an Ohio woman's claim to be 119 years old -- and thus the oldest person now alive.

http://www.upi.com/Odd_News/2011/03/...6741301084962/

[snopes]

Walter Breuning's earliest memories stretched back 111 years, before home entertainment came with a twist of the radio dial. They were of his grandfather's tales of killing Southerners in the Civil War.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110415/...d_s_oldest_man

[snopes]

An Ohio woman who just turned 100 years old has taken customer loyalty to the extreme: She's still using a bank savings account that's been around almost as long as she has, since the year before World War I.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110603/...ined_depositor

[snopes]

A Monroe, Ga., woman who Guinness World Records says is the world's oldest person turned 115 and received a plaque from Guinness.

http://www.upi.com/Odd_News/2011/08/...7781314385928/

[snopes]

Jiroemon Kimura of Kyoto, Japan, the world's oldest living man, celebrated his 115th birthday.

According to the Gerontology Research Group (GRG), an international body that specifically deals in longevity research, he is not only the world's oldest living man, but is the third-oldest man in recorded history.

http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/sideshow...020557265.html

[lord_feldon]

http://www.cnn.com/2012/12/04/us/geo...ies/index.html

Before women gained the right to vote in 1920, Besse Cooper joined the suffrage movement.

She died Tuesday, at age 116, only one of eight people recognized by the Guinness World Records to have lived that long.

[Mateus]

An Iowan is now the world’s oldest person.

Dina Manfredini, 115, of Johnston is now the oldest person in the world, according to the Gerontology Research Group. The woman who had been listed as the oldest person in the world died today in Georgia. That leaves Dina Manfredini, of Johnston, as the most senior person on the planet, according to the Gerontology Research Group.

Manfredini is 115 years and 244 days old.

http://blogs.desmoinesregister.com/d...rson-on-earth/

[snopes]

Jiroemon Kimura, already the world's oldest man, is now the world's oldest person after Dina Manfredini of Johnston, Iowa died on December 17 at the age of 115.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worl...st-person.html