Misao Okawa was, for just shy of two whole years, the oldest living person on the planet. Of course, there is only one reason that title can be taken away from a person and that is what happened when she passed away just a few months ago, on the 1st of April, 2015. At the time of her death, she was 117 years and 27 days old.

She was born way back on the 5th of March, 1898. Think about all the things this lady would have seen prior to her passing. At the time of her birth, Queen Victoria still occupied the throne and the Spanish-American War was in full swing. She lived through two World Wars. The very first car was produced only a few short years before her and she managed to live through a time which saw both the first aeroplane, and the internet.

Okawa lived a longer life than anybody ever born in Japan – a country which features disproportionately on lists of the oldest people ever; both women and men. She was born in the Tenma District of the country, which had come to be known as Kita-ku by the time she passed away.

She married her husband Yukio Okawa in 1919. The couple produced two daughters and one son. Given her remarkably long life, it is worth mentioning that one of her daughters and her son both survived her. Yukio passed away in 1931. They had four grandchildren and six great-grandchildren.

Although she was wheelchair bound from the age of 110 onwards, she said in an interview with Britain’s Daily Telegraph, that she was still doing leg squats when she was 102. During the interview last year, she gave insight in to the secrets for longevity. Obviously, genetics will help, but Okawa also reckoned that quality sleep, exercise, and sushi will help.

“Eat and sleep and you will live a long time,” she said. “You have to learn to relax”.

She died from heart failure at her nursing home in Higashisumiyoshi-ku, Osaka, earlier this year.

Talley died just last week at the age of 116 years and 25 days old. She was born on the 23rd of May, 1899, and between the death of Gertrude Weaver on the 6th of April, and her own death on the 17th of June, she was the planet’s oldest living person.

She died at her home which she shared with her 77-year old daughter in in Inkster, Michigan. Born in Georgia, she moved to Michigan in 1935 with her husband, Alfred Talley, who worked in car manufacturing for Ford. Alfred passed away in 1988. The couple had only one child, Thelma, who gave her mother three grandchildren, ten great-grandchildren, and four great-great-grandchildren.

This woman’s success in attaining a long time as a resident of the planet Earth appears to stem form much the same place as her predecessor, Weaver. “It’s coming from above,” she said, in an interview with Fox earlier this year. “That’s the best advice I can give you. It’s not in my hands or your hands”.

Talley’s family say that despite her age, she remained very sharp of mind up until her final day. Also, she still enjoyed a spot of occasional fishing, and went bowling regularly until she was 104 years old. During an interview with CBS Detroit she offered some worldly advice for the rest of us. “Treat the other fellow like you want to be treated,” she said “You don’t tell a lie on me, so I won’t tell a lie on you”.

The woman twice received letters from President Barack Obama. Once when she turned 114, and then again for her 116th. The second of those letters expressed that Obama considered that the “breadth of her experience and depth of her wisdom reflects the long path our nation has travelled since 1899”.

She was said to have been known in her local community and amongst other members of the New Jerusalem Missionary Baptist Church, as a wise person to whom people would sometimes come for advice. Amongst her church group she was known as “Mother Talley”.

Talley had apparently only one prayer with regards to her death; that she not suffer greatly. She is reported to have died peacefully, leaving Susannah Mushatt Jones as the oldest living person in the world. Susannah is one of only two people of the five who started the year, who were born in the 1800s.

Susannah Mushatt Jones is the current world’s oldest person at the time of writing. She was born on the 6th of July, 1899. It is amazing to think that she has been alive in three different centuries. The oldest of eleven children, she was born in Lowndes County, Alabama, where her parents farmed the same land as their parents did, one of whom was an ex-slave.

She dreamed of escaping the tough life she lived and, after graduating from high school, she wanted to become a teacher. Unfortunately, her parents could not afford the tuition and so she moved to New York City in 1923.

She was married in 1928 and divorced only five years later. She took care of children of the wealthy, using her wages to help her family move to the city in search of opportunity, as well as establishing the The Calhoun Club, which was a scholarship program for African American children at her high school.

Susannah lost her sight at the age of 100 form glaucoma. She also has trouble hearing and doesn’t speak too much these days. And yet, she is relatively healthy considering she is the oldest person on the planet. She takes only multivitamins a pill for high blood-pressure.

She has never had many precautionary check-ups such as a mammogram and has, in the past, refused to have a suggested surgeries. And still she carries one. Susannah’s secret to longevity might be a little different to that of the past few ladies to lay claim to being the oldest in the world. Rather than credit God, she reckons that not having the hassle of a man in her life is the key. That and the fact she has never smoked, drank alcohol, partied, wore makeup, or dyed her hair. She says that she also sleeps about ten hours every day. That doesn’t necessarily mean she is a picture of health diet-wise. She loves both barbeque chicken and bacon. Don’t we all…

Never having children, niece told Time magazine last year that her aunty Susannah would be both generous when it came to gifts for her family and herself. In her case, she was quite fond of lingerie, and wore it quite often. "She would save her money and then go to Bloomingdale's," said her niece, Selbra. "One time, when she had to get an EKG, the doctors and nurses were surprised to see her wearing that lingerie, and she said, 'Oh sure, you can never get too old to wear fancy stuff.'"

Gertrude Weaver passed away just days after Misao Okawa, on the 6th of April, this year. She was 116 years and 276 days old. She was born on the 4th of July in 1898, in Lafayette County, Arkansas, United States. Weaver became the oldest living person in the world following the Japanese woman’s heart failure on the 1st of April – a mantle she held for just a handful of days.

There seems to have been a few people pushing the age barriers over the past few years. Last year, at the time of Weaver’s 116th birthday in July, she was the second oldest person in the world (behind Okawa) and the 11th oldest person to have ever walked the Earth (confirmed).

According to the Associated Press, Robert Young of the Gerontology Research Group, which the Guinness Book of Records relies upon for such records, explained the above point. "Normally, 116 would be old enough to be the world's oldest person," Young said. "There's kind of heavy competition at the moment”.

Gertrude married Gennie Weaver in 1915 and the couple had four children. Gennie passed away in 1969 whilst she outlived all of her children except son, Joe, who turned 94 the day after his mother’s 116th birthday.

So what about Gertrude’s secrets to longevity. Well, it appears that a lot of it was in the hands of the man above. "You have to follow God. Don't follow anyone else," she said, according to the Camden News. "Be obedient and follow the laws and don't worry about anything. I've followed him for many, many years and I ain't tired”.

emmyw:
I don't want to live like this o

... you won't, not while you are in Nigeria

Emma is now the second oldest person alive today behind Susannah. This makes her, not only the oldest person in her native Italy, and Europe, but the oldest person outside the United States. She was born on the 29th of November, 1899, in Civiasco, Vercelli, Piedmont, Italy – the eldest of eight children.

Her full name is Emma Martina Luigia Morano and she was married to Giovanni Martinuzzi in 1926, up until his death in 1978. Although the marriage remained formal until this time, the pair became estranged in 1938, one year after their only child died as a six-month old infant.

According to local media sources, she still takes care of herself in her own home, despite her age. She reckons that positive thoughts for the future is the main thing that keeps her kicking, but she also has some dietary guidelines she follows, including her daily glass of homemade brandy. Italy’s La Stampa newspaper quoted her offering insight to her diet. "For breakfast I eat biscuits with milk or water," she said. "Then during the day I eat two eggs — one raw and one cooked — just like the doctor recommended when I was 20 years old. For lunch I'll eat pasta and minced meat then for dinner, I'll have just a glass of milk”.

In 2011, she was awarded the Knight of Order of Merit of the Italian Republic by President Giorgio Napolitano. This award is the highest ranking in Italy and is usually given out to those who have excelled in literature, the arts, economy, public service, or some sort of humanitarian achievement.

Interesting, I always ask GOD for Long Life and Prosperity. Kudos to The Old Righteous People.

If you get to 70years old in Nigeria you better thank your star.

Bridgetown:
If you get to 70years old in Nigeria you better thank your star.

very very very RARE!!!

Gosh they're so olddddd!!!

Chai...wetin be dis

Darlinhercules:
Chai...wetin be dis

....Old Age...

Am not that surprised....white women do look good in the early ages....the horrible appearance shows when they start approaching 40....but in Africa....you can see a woman in her 60s....still looking beautiful and clean.......none of them is even up to 130 self....my great grand father is now 130+....and he's still alive....