World’s oldest known person, a French nun, passes away at 118
Sister Andre prays in a wheelchair in a nursing home in Toulon, southern France. AFP
The world's oldest person, the French nun Sister Andre, died at the age of 118 in France, according to the nursing home where she lived.
Lucille Randon, who bore the name "Sister Andre" when she joined a Catholic charity in 1944, recovered from the coronavirus last year.
The French nun was born on February 11, 1904 and was the oldest living person in the world, according to the Gerontology Research Group's global list of centenarians.
Spokesman David Tavella said she died at 2 am on Tuesday at the Sainte-Catherine-Laboure nursing home in the southern port city of Toulon.
The Group, which validates details of people thought to be 110 or older, listed her as the oldest known person in the world after the death of Japan’s Kane Tanaka, aged 119, last year.
The oldest living known person in the world listed by the Gerontology Research Group is now American-born Maria Branyas Morera, who is living in Spain, and is 115.
Sister André tested positive for the coronavirus in January 2021, shortly before her 117th birthday, but she had so few symptoms that she didn’t even realize she was infected. Her survival made headlines both in France and beyond.
Asked about her exceptional longevity after surviving two world wars, she told French media in April that "working … makes you live. I worked until I was 108.”
