Elsie Thompson

Elsie Thompson
Born	Elsie Marie Calvert April 5, 1899[1] Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania, U.S.[2]
Died	March 21, 2013 (aged 7009359624880000000♠113 years, 350 days) Clearwater, Florida, U.S.[3]
Nationality	American
Spouse(s)	Ronald L. Thompson (1899-1986) (m.1921–1986; his death)[2]
Children	One: George Thompson (b.1941)
Parent(s)	Joseph Calvert and Ida Johnston[4]
Relatives	3 grandchildren[3] 6 great-grandchildren

Elsie Marie Thompson (née Calvert; April 5, 1899 – March 21, 2013)^{[1][2][3][5][6]} was an American supercentenarian who was thought to have been the oldest living American from the death of 114-year-old Mamie Rearden on 2 January 2013 until her own death. However, Gertrude Weaver's subsequent verification after Thompson's death means she was in fact the second oldest.

Biography

Elsie Marie Calvert was born on April 5, 1899. In 1921, she married Ronald L. Thompson (August 19, 1899–June 1986), an Army veteran of both World Wars and a Republican politician who served in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives for twelve years.^[2][7] She was a flexitarian (she avoided meat outside of chicken and salmon), and enjoyed coffee and cookies. She was a Republican and a Christian, and enjoyed singing hymns.

Thompson cited her love of people as her reason for a long life.^[2]

She died of congestive heart failure at her home in Clearwater, Florida on Thursday, March 21, 2013, two weeks before her 114th birthday.^[3] After her death, Jeralean Talley was believed to be the new oldest living American. However, when the age of Gertrude Weaver (born 1898) was certified in 2014, both Thompson and Talley lost the title of the oldest living American (though Talley subsequently became the oldest living American and the oldest undisputed living person in the world upon Weaver's death on April 6, 2015).^[8]

See also

• List of supercentenarians from the United States
• List of the verified oldest women
• List of supercentenarians who died in 2013
• Oldest people

References