World’s Oldest Person Dies in US at 114
Pakistan Times Wire Service

NEW YORK: An American woman who became the world’s oldest known living person last week has died, her great-nephew said Monday. She was 114.

Emma Faust Tillman died Sunday night in the Hartford, Connecticut nursing home where she had lived for the last four years, great-nephew John Stewart was cited as saying by the local media.

Ms Tillman was born on November 22, 1892, near Greensboro, North Carolina. The child of former slaves, she was one of 23 children in a long-lived family. Three of her sisters and a brother lived past 100.

But Ms Tillman’s longevity topped them all. She lived independently until the age of 110. In the nursing home, she spent much of her time caring for an ailing roommate who was more than 20 years her junior.

Ms Tillman never smoked, drank or wore eyeglasses, Stewart said. For a time, Ms. Tillman worked as a servant for American actress Katharine Hepburn, he noted.

She is survived by an 80-year-old daughter, Marjorie, and a large number of grandchildren and great-grandchildren, Stewart said.

According to the International Committee on Supercentenarians, the world’s next oldest person is Yone Minagama, 114, of Japan. But Guinness World Records by Monday had not verified that claim, media reports said.●