[Deathwatch] Maud Farris-Luse, world's oldest living person, 115

[Deathwatch Central]

World's Oldest Person Dies at 115 
Tue Mar 19, 3:38 PM ET 
By JAMES PRICHARD, Associated Press Writer 

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. - Maud Farris-Luse, recognized last year by the
Guinness World Records book as the world's oldest living person, has
died. She was 115.
  
She died Monday from complications of pneumonia at Community Health
Center of Branch County in Coldwater, a town south of Grand Rapids in
southwestern Michigan. She had been in the hospital since Sunday night,
said Kyle Fassett, administrator of the Laurels of Coldwater, the
nursing home where Farris-Luse lived.

Farris-Luse was 115 years, 56 days old.

"It was her time," said great-granddaughter Laurie Ferris, 32. "She
lived a long time and now she's in a better place. She passed away
very, very peacefully."

Last June, Guinness editors recognized Farris-Luse as the oldest living
person whose age could be verified. Though her birth certificate was
lost over the years, the editors authenticated her age through other
documents, including U.S. Census Bureau (news - web sites) records and
her 1903 marriage license.

Described as a sharp and fiercely independent woman, Farris-Luse lived
alone and cared for herself until she broke her hip in a 1991 fall at
her house. That is when she moved to the Laurels nursing home. She
remained mentally alert until about five years ago.

By the time of her 115th birthday in January, relatives said she could
not see or hear them or understand what was happening, but still seemed
to enjoy visitors.

"She was just a wonderful woman, loved her family, always happy," said
Ferris, whose branch of the family prefers that spelling instead of
Farris.

Farris-Luse was born Jan. 21, 1887, in Morley, about 40 miles north of
Grand Rapids. She married Jason Farris, a farmer and laborer, in 1903,
when he was 24 and she was 16. They lived in Angola, Ind., before
moving to Coldwater in 1923. They had seven children.

Farris died at age 72 in 1951, when his wife was 64. She then married
Walter Luse, who died three years into their marriage.

Over the years, Farris-Luse worked as a clerk in a factory, a hotel
maid, a baker and a restaurant cook, retiring in her 70s. She outlived
all but one of her children.

Another woman recognized as one of the world's oldest, Delvina
Dahlheimer, was 113 when she died March 13 in Elk River, Minn. Her
birth date was Dec. 31, 1888. Mary Thompson of DeWitt, Ark., was said
to be 119 when she died Oct. 8, though Guinness did not officially
recognize her age.