America's oldest woman dies at 116

America's oldest woman dies at 116

AFP

The dean of Americans, Hester Ford, died Saturday at the age of 116 years, leaving behind her many descendants, including a hundred great-great-grandchildren, announced his family on social networks. 

If a doubt remains as to her date of birth, 1905 or 1904, Hester Ford had been recognized as the dean of the United States in 2019 by the Gerontology Research Group, which lists the "supercentenarians" (people over 110 years).

The African-American woman was born in South Carolina in the southeastern United States and grew up on a farm picking cotton and plowing fields before later working as a nanny, according to local station WBTV.

"She represented the progress of our family, but also the progress of African-Americans and their culture in our country. She reminded us of how far we have come as a people," her family said in a statement.

Born some 40 years after the abolition of slavery, she lived through segregation, which did not end until the 1960s in the United States.

The COVID-19 pandemic was not her first: the Spanish flu pandemic had occurred during her teenage years, beginning in 1918.

Called a "pillar" and "matriarch" by her family, she had more than 280 descendants: 12 children, 48 grandchildren, a hundred great-grandchildren and as many great-great-grandchildren.

She died at home, surrounded by her family, said the channel WBTV, without indicating the reasons for his death.

The dean of humanity would be the Japanese Kane Tanaka, aged 118 years.

Source: AFP