Maude Farris-Luse

Maude Farris-Luse (aka Maud Luse)
Born January 21, 1887(1887-01-21)
Morley, Michigan, U.S.
Died March 18, 2002(2002-03-18)
(aged &10000000000000115000000115 years, &1000000000000005600000056 days)
Coldwater, Michigan, U.S.
Spouse Jason Farris (1878–1951)
Walter Luse (1887–1959)
Children Charley (1905–1987)
Esther (1907–1935)
Walter (1908–1913)
Ruby (1910–1910)
Clair (1911–1988)
Dale (1913–1986)
Lucille (1928–2003)
Parents Frank Davis (1858–1920)
Della Jenkins (1863–1950)

Maude Farris-Luse, (January 21, 1887 – March 18, 2002), also known as Maud Luse, was an American supercentenarian. According to the Guinness Book of World Records, she was the oldest person in the world from June 2001 until her death nine months later, at age 115 years, 56 days.[1]

Contents

Birth, marriage and family

Maude Farris-Luse was born in Morley, Michigan on January 21, 1887. She married Jason Farris, a farmer and laborer, in 1903. She was 16, he was 23. They lived in Angola, Indiana at first, later moving to Coldwater, Michigan in 1923. They had seven children.[1]

It was in Angola that she first saw an automobile. According to the AP, over the years, she worked as a clerk in a factory, a hotel maid, a baker and a restaurant cook, retiring in her 70s.[1]

Jason Farris died at age 72 in 1951, when Maude was 64. Her subsequent marriage to Walter Luse lasted only three years, until Luse's death.[1] While her given name was "Maude", in her later years Farris-Luse spelled her name as "Maud".

Supercentenarian years

In 1997, at the age of 110, Farris-Luse wrote a letter to Jeanne Calment, the oldest validated person ever.[2] With the death of Marie Brémont on June 6, 2001, Guinness editors declared Farris-Luse the world's oldest person on June 23, 2001.[2] In the absence of any birth certificate, they authenticated her age using U.S. Census Bureau records and her 1903 marriage license.[1]

On March 28, 2002, she died of pneumonia at the age of 115.[1][2] She had outlived six of her seven children.[2]

Legacy

Farris-Luse holds the record as the oldest person ever from the state of Michigan.

See also

External links

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Prichard, James, Michigan woman, recognized by Guinness as world's oldest person, dies at 115 years, 56 days, Associated Press 19 March 2002. Retrieved 11 December 2010.
  2. ^ a b c d Maier, Heiner; et al. (2010). Supercentenarians. New York: Springer. ISBN 3-6421-1519-5. 
Preceded by
Marie Brémont		 Oldest recognized living person
June 6, 2001 – March 18, 2002		 Succeeded by
Kamato Hongo
(disputed)
Oldest undisputed living person
June 6, 2001 – March 18, 2002		 Succeeded by
Grace Clawson
Oldest people in the world since 1955

Betsy Baker · Martha Graham · Mary Kelly · Elizabeth Kensley · William Fullingim · Hannah Smith · John Mosely Turner · Johanna Booyson · Marie Bernátková · Ada Roe · Josefa Salas Mateo · Alice Stevenson · Elizabeth Watkins · Mito Umeta · Niwa Kawamoto · Shigechiyo Izumi · Mamie Eva Keith · Mary McKinney · Anna Eliza Williams · Florence Knapp · Carrie C. White · Jeanne Calment · Marie-Louise Meilleur · Sarah Knauss · Eva Morris · Marie Brémont · Maude Farris-Luse · Kamato Hongo · Mitoyo Kawate · Ramona Trinidad Iglesias-Jordan · María Capovilla · Elizabeth Bolden · Emiliano Mercado del Toro · Emma Tillman · Yone Minagawa · Edna Parker · Maria de Jesus · Gertrude Baines · Kama Chinen · Eugénie Blanchard · Maria Gomes Valentim · Besse Cooper