Just days after being crowned the world’s oldest documented person, 116-year-old Gertrude Weaver died Monday in Arkansas. Gertrude died at the age of 116.
According to documents around the globe, Weaver was 116 years and 271 days old on April 1, when Osaka, Japan, resident Misao Okawa died, making Weaver the oldest living person.
Weaver was a resident at the Silver Oaks Health and Rehabilitation Center in Camden, Arkansas, when she died of complications from pneumonia. The Williams Funeral Home confirmed Weaver died just after 10 a.m. Monday at the Silver Oaks Health and Rehabilitation Center in Camden, about 100 miles southwest of Little Rock.
Born July 4, 1898, in southwestern Arkansas, Weaver was the daughter of sharecroppers. In an Associated Press article about her birthday in 2014, she credited her longevity to "trusting in the Lord, hard work and loving everybody."
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"To live a long life, you have to follow God. Don't follow anyone else," she was quoted as telling the Camden News. "I've followed him for many, many years, and I ain't tired."
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Camden Mayor Marie Trisollini chatted with Weaver last week when the supercentenarian’s roommate celebrated her 100th birthday.
“She was a really sweet lady. She was relatively perky and......coherent when I talked with her before the party,” Trisollini said. “When you asked for advice on how to live a long life she would say, ‘Use a lot of skin moisturizer, treat everyone nice, love your neighbor and eat your own cooking. Don’t eat at fast food places.'”
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At the time of her death last week, Misao Okawa was 117 years and 27 days old. According to Gerontology Research Group records, the current oldest-living human would appear to be Inkster, MI resident Jeralean Talley, who was 115 years and 318 days old on Monday.
Weaver, who was born in southwest Arkansas to sharecropper parents, told nursing home staff last week that she wanted to invite President Barack Obama because she had voted for him twice.
