Wednesday, November 10, 2010

World’s oldest nun dead at 114

The world’s oldest woman, Sister Eugenie Blanchard, has died in the Caribbean at the age of 114.

Sister Blanchard died in the French Caribbean island of St Barts, the Sydney Morning Herald reports.

Bruyn Hospital director Pierre Nuty said she died early on Thursday at the hospital, where she had lived in the geriatric ward since 1980.

Cousin Armelle Blanchard told AP that while Blanchard could no longer talk, she had seemed to be in relatively good health.

Blanchard was born in St Barts on February 16, 1896 and lived much of her life in a convent in the Dutch Caribbean island of Curacao before returning home in the 1950s.

Blanchard became the world’s oldest person after Kama Chinen of Japan died a week before her 115th birthday, according to the Gerontology Research Group, which tracks people of extremely old age.

The Guinness Book of World Records also recognised Blanchard as the world’s oldest person.

SIC: CTH/ASIA