Sarah Knauss, world's oldest person, 119

["Deathwatch Central" <cdw@slick.org>]

http://www.cnn.com/1999/US/12/30/obit.oldest.person.ap/index.html

Sarah Knauss, world's oldest person, dies at 119

December 30, 1999
Web posted at: 8:34 PM EST (0134 GMT)


HARRISBURG, Pennsylvania (AP) -- Sarah Knauss, listed in the Guinness Book
of Records as the world's oldest person, died Thursday at the age of 119,
according to a spokeswoman at the Allentown nursing home where she lived.

Knauss, who was 20 when the 20th century began, apparently died of natural
causes at about 3 p.m., said Marcella Moyer Schick, executive director of
the Pheobe-Devitt Homes Foundation.

"She died quietly in her room. She was not ill," she said. "They had stopped
in to see her just less than an hour before, and when the nurse went back,
she had passed away."

Knauss, who was born September 24, 1880, and lived a quiet life as a
homemaker and insurance office manager, found herself in the international
spotlight after the Guinness Book of Records declared her the world's oldest
person in 1998 upon the death of Marie-Louise Febronie Meilleur of Quebec,
who was 117.

When her family members walked her into the dining room to tell her of her
new fame, she smiled and said, "so what?"

Her death came just three days before she would have laid claim to having
lived in three different centuries.

"Sarah was an elegant lady and worthy of all the honor and adulation she has
received," said Joseph Hess, an administrator at the nursing home.

Even at 119, she never stopped being amazed by mankind's ability to create
new ways to hurt each other, heal each other and explore the world, her
family said.

"She always loved to hear about this new invention or that new invention,"
her daughter Kathryn Sullivan, 96, said in a 1997 interview. "She liked to
remind people that no matter how bad things seemed, she could remember a
time when things were worse."

Knauss, born in the coal town of Hollywood, Pennsylvania, lived through
seven U.S. wars, the sinking of the Titanic and Charles Lindbergh's solo
flight across the Atlantic.

She was older than the Brooklyn Bridge and was born before the dedication of
the Statute of Liberty. She was 28 when Henry Ford introduced the Model T
and 88 when Neil Armstrong walked on the moon.

When asked in a 1995 interview if she enjoyed her longevity, Knauss said: "I
enjoy it because I have my health and I can do things."

Ms. Sullivan, of Allentown, had described her mother as a tranquil person
who nothing could faze.

"That's why she's living this long," she said.

Knauss is survived by her daughter, several grandchildren,
great-grandchildren and great-great-grandchildren.

Copyright 1999 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may
not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.


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