'Lizzie', the world's oldest person, dies

Lee Glendinning

The oldest person in the world, Elizabeth Bolden, has passed away in her nursing home in Memphis Tennessee, aged 116.

Known as Lizzie, she had 40 grandchildren, 75 great-children, 150 great-great-grandchildren, 220 great-great-great grandchildren and 75 great-great-great-great grandchildren.

Lizzie was born on August 15, 1890, according to the Gerontology Research Group, an organisation based in Los Angeles which tracks the ages of the world’s oldest people.

It was the same year that the modern acoustic guitar was created in Spain, the first train ran in Ohio, and Los Angeles was incorporated as a city.

She married at 19, and had two daughters and two sons. Her sons have since passed away. In the 1950s she was widowed and after suffering a stroke in 2004, she spoke little in the last years of her life she slept most of the time, her family said.

James Bolden, her grandson who came from the Phillipines last week to visit his grandmother said she died on Monday in the Mid-South Health and Rehabilitation Centre in Memphis, a nursing home where she had been living for several years.

"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," he said.

Lizzie became the oldest person in the world in August following the death of Maria Esther de Capovilla of Ecuador who was also 116.

Emiliano Mercado del Toro, 115, of Puerto Rico is now thought to be the oldest person in the world oldest person.

The oldest person ever is believed to be Jeanne Louise Calment. Born in France on February 21, 1875, she died on August 4, 1997, aged 122 years and 164 days.

Wikipedia Entry
Elizabeth Bolden

the sixth oldest (authenticated) supecentenarian:
Tane Ikai (1879-1995)

The world's oldest authenticated supercentenarian:
Jeanne Calment (1875-1997)

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