Marie-Louise Meilleur

Marie-Louise Fébronie Meilleur (née Chassé; August 29, 1880 – April 16, 1998) was a French Canadian supercentenarian who, upon the death of Frenchwoman Jeanne Calment, became the oldest recognized living person.^[1] Meilleur is still the oldest validated Canadian ever.

Biography

She was born in Kamouraska, Quebec, where she married her first husband, Étienne Leclerc, in 1900. After he and both of her parents died in 1911–1912, Meilleur left two of her four surviving children behind in 1913 and moved to the Ontario border. Only once, in 1939, did she return to the Quebec area. The supercentenarian had six further children by her second husband, Hector Meilleur, whom she married in 1915. After his death in 1972, she lived first with a daughter and then in a nursing home in Corbeil.

By the time Meilleur died of a blood clot at age 117 in April 1998 in Corbeil, Ontario, one of her sons was also living in the same nursing home, and her oldest living daughter, Gabrielle Vaughan, was 90 years old.^[2][3]

Longevity

More than a decade after her death, Meilleur still ranks as the fourth oldest person ever, behind only Jeanne Calment, Sarah Knauss, and Lucy Hannah.

Records

• On 20 March 1993, Lillian Ross died, and Meilleur aged 112 years 203 days, became the oldest living person in Canada.
• On 4 August 1997, Jeanne Calment died, and Meilleur, 116 years, 340 days, became the oldest living person
• On 16 April 1998, Meilleur died, 117 years 230 days, and Sarah Knauss became the oldest living person

See also

• List of the verified oldest people
• List of the verified oldest women
• National longevity recordholders
• Oldest people
• Supercentenarian
• Aging

References