[Deathwatch] Edna Parker, worlds oldest person, 115

[Deathwatch Central]

November 28, 2008
World's oldest person, Edna Parker, dies at 115

Edna Parker had five grandchildren, 13 great-grandchildren and 13
great-great-grandchildren

A great-great-grandmother who was the world's oldest person has died at
the age of 115.

Indiana woman Edna Parker, who assumed the mantle more than a year ago,
passed away on Wednesday at a nursing home in Shelbyville. She was 115
years, 220 days old.

Mrs Parker was born April 20, 1893, in central Indiana and had been
recognised by Guinness as the world’s oldest person since the 2007
death of Japan's Yone Minagawa, who was four months her senior.

Dr Stephen Coles, the UCLA gerontologist who maintains a list of the
world’s oldest people, said Mrs Parker was the 14th oldest validated
super-centenarian in history. Maria de Jesus of Portugal, who was born
September 10, 1893, is now the world’s oldest living person, according
to the Gerontology Research Group.

Mrs Parker became a widow in 1939 - the year Judy Garland starred in
The Wizard of Oz - when her husband, Earl Parker, died of a heart
attack. She was 48. She remained alone in their farmhouse until age
100, when she moved into a son’s home and later to the Shelbyville
nursing home.

Though she never drank alcohol or smoked and led an active lifestyle,
she didn't credit this for her advanced years.

A teacher, her only advice to those who gathered to celebrate when she
became the world's oldest person was to get “more education.”

Mrs Parker outlived both her sons, Clifford and Earl Jr. She also had
five grandchildren, 13 great-grandchildren and 13
great-great-grandchildren.

Don Parker, 60, said his grandmother had a small frame and a mild
temperament. She walked a lot and kept busy even after moving into the
nursing home, he said.

“She kept active,” he said yesterday. “We used to go up there, and she
would be pushing other patients in their wheelchairs.”

Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels, who celebrated with Mrs Parker on her
114th birthday, said it had been a "delight" to know her. She must have
been a remarkable lady at any age, he added.

Mrs Parker graduated from the state's Franklin College in 1911 and went
on to teach in a two-room school for several years.

She married Earl, her childhood sweetheart and neighbour, in 1913.

As was usual at the time, her career came to an end with her marriage
and Mrs Parker became a farmer's wife, spending her days tending the
home and preparing meals for the dozen men who worked on the farm.

Last year, she noted with pride that she and her husband were one of
the first owners of an automobile in their rural area.

Coincidentally, Mrs Parker lived in the same nursing home as Sandy
Allen, whom at 7ft 7¼ was officially the world's tallest woman until
her death in August.


Many thanks to Deathwatch Central for posting this obituary