What would you do if your life could span three centuries? Quite a lot probably. Today, there are only five people in the world who can say that they’ve lived in the 19th, 20th and 21st centuries. These five women are, though, the last people that we’ll ever have the chance to see with this distinction–and we think they look fantastic. The proper term is for people of this age is supercentenarian.
Misao Okawa from Japan, March 5, 1898, age 116
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Misao Okawa has the distinction of being the oldest living person on Earth. She’s been a widow for 83 years, her husband having died in 1931. They were married in 1919, and she had three children, two of whom are still alive in their 90s, four grandchildren and six great-grandchildren. She credits her long life to exercising regularly–she was doing leg squats at 102–and taking basic care of your needs: “”Eat and sleep and you will live a long time,” she says.
Gertrude Weaver from the U.S., July 4, 1898, age 116
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Gertrude Weaver comes in second in the oldest living person after Misao Okawa, and is the oldest living person in the U.S. Born in Arkansas, she was the daughter of sharecroppers who both lived through the Civil War. She was married in 1915 and had four children, only one of whom survives today. Living in a nursing home in her home state, she enjoys manicures, Bible study, and wheelchair dancing. She spends a lot of time with her granddaughter, who is 78. She credits her religious beliefs to her long life, finding them a source of peace and a relief from life’s hardships. But the real key to long life? “Kindness,” she says. “Treat people right and be nice to other people the way you want them to be nice to you.”
Jeralean Talley from the U.S., May 23 1899, age 115
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Jeralean Talley grew up in Georgia picking peanuts and cotton, but, desiring something more, she moved to a larger town where she married and had one daughter. She was widowed when her husband passed away at 95 in 1988. Today, she lives with her daughter and stays as active as possible. She mowed the lawn until the was 105, bowled until she was 104, and even went fishing at 114 and caught seven catfish. Like Gertrude Weaver, she also lives by the Golden Rule.
Susannah Mushatt Jones from the U.S., July 6, 1899, age 115
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The eldest of 11 children, Susannah “Miss Susie” Mushatt Jones was born in Alabama to sharecropper parents, one of whom was an ex-slave. Determined to make something of herself, she went to school and later moved to New York during the Harlem Renaissance of the 1920s. She also helped found the Calhoun Club, a scholarship program for African-American high schoolers, and was an active fixture in the neighborhood. She was only married for five years in the early ’30s, and has no children, but over 100 nieces and nephews. She thinks the key to her long life was not being married, and she’s also lived a simple, healthy life, and gets plenty of sleep–about 10 hours a day.
Emma Morano from Italy, November 29 1899, age 115
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While the youngest of the bunch, Emma Morano is the oldest living person in Europe, and just made it before the turn of the century. She manages to this day to live on her own without assistance, and she seems to come from some pretty good genes, too; her sister lived to be 102. She separated from her husband in 1938 following the death of her only child at 6 months, and worked in a jute factory and a boarding school kitchen. She’s been retired since the age of 75. She attributes her long life to her eating habits, which include a raw egg and a glass of homemade brandy every day, and, like the others, she gets about 11 hours of sleep a night. Above all, though, she resolves to think positively about the future.
So what’s their secret to such amazing longevity? When asked, they tended to mention the same things: getting enough sleep, staying active and exercising, and eating their favorite foods regularly. And not to stress out too much. And if past records are anything to go by, these ladies will be around for some years to come; the person who lived the longest was Jeanne Calment of France, who passed away when she was 122.
We also have to give an honorable mention to Bernice Madigan, who passed away on January 3rd of this year at the age of 115, and was born July 24, 1899. She was active in politics and credited no kids, no stress, and a spoonful of honey a day to her long life.
