Besse Cooper

Besse Berry Cooper (née Brown; born August 26, 1896) is an American supercentenarian. She became the world's oldest living person following the death of the Brazilian supercentenarian Maria Gomes Valentim on June 21, 2011. She is one of 24 people with an undisputed lifespan of at least 115 years. On 2 December 2011, she became the last living person born in 1896.^[1]

Biography

Cooper was born Besse Berry Brown in Sullivan County, Tennessee in 1896, the third of eight children born to Richard Brown (1861-1932) and Angeline Berry (1866-1927).^[2][3] She graduated from East Tennessee State Normal School in 1916, and worked as a schoolteacher in her native Tennessee before moving to Georgia around the time of America's entrance into World War I in 1917.^[4] She taught in Between, Georgia until 1929. She married Luther Cooper in 1924 and was widowed in 1963, having had four children with him; their first child was born in 1929 and their last in 1944.^[5][6]

Besse Cooper became Georgia's oldest resident on January 19, 2009, following the death of 113-year-old Beatrice Farve.^[5] She is additionally the second-oldest verified person ever from Tennessee, behind Elizabeth Bolden, who died in December 2006, aged 116 years 118 days.

At the time of her 115th birthday in August 2011, Cooper had four children, 12 grandchildren, 15 great-grandchildren and one great-great-grandchild.^[7]

Longevity milestones

• November 8, 2006 – Besse Cooper, aged 110 years 74 days, entered the Gerontology Research Group's list for Guinness World Records.
• January 19, 2009 – Besse Cooper, aged 112 years 146 days, became the oldest person in the U.S. state of Georgia, upon the death of Beatrice Farve.
• January 31, 2011 – Eunice Sanborn died. Besse Cooper, aged 114 years 158 days, became the oldest living person in the United States.
• April 14, 2011 – Walter Breuning died. Besse Cooper, aged 114 years 231 days, became the last surviving American born in the year 1896.
• June 21, 2011 – Maria Gomes Valentim died. Besse Cooper, aged 114 years 299 days, became the world's oldest living person.
• August 9, 2011 – Besse Cooper, aged 114 years 348 days, surpassed Maria Gomes Valentim to become the longest lived person born in 1896.
• August 26, 2011 – Besse Cooper became the 23rd verified person to reach the age of 115.^[7] She was the first person to do so since Gertrude Baines, who celebrated her 115th birthday on April 6, 2009.
• December 2, 2011 – Chiyono Hasegawa died. Besse Cooper, aged 115 years 98 days, became the last surviving person born in 1896.^[1]
• December 19, 2011 – Besse Cooper, aged 115 years 115 days, surpassed Maria de Jesus to become one of the reputed 20 oldest people ever, and the 17th-oldest verified person.

See also

• List of supercentenarians from the United States
• List of the verified oldest women
• List of the verified oldest people
• List of oldest people by year of birth
• List of oldest living people by nation
• List of living supercentenarians
• Oldest people
• Supercentenarian

References