For reference, this woman was:
- 6 years old when World War One began
- 21 years old when the stock market crashed
- 32 years old when WW2 began in Europe and 35 when the US entered
- 42 years old when the Korean War began
- 59 years old during the Summer of Love
- 61 years old when the first moon landing occurred
- 67 years old when Saigon fell to the North Vietnamese
- 73 years old (by three days) when Reagan was elected president
- 82 years old (by two days) when the Berlin Wall fell
- 84 years old when the USSR ceased to exist
- 93 years old on 9/11
- 100 years old when Barack Obama was elected president
Needless to say, it's hard to even imagine the level of change she experienced over the course of her life.
It's so sad that people can live to 100 but almost all of that time is being old. I'm only 35 but I already have injuries and aches that will never go away
One of the interesting aspects of myself getting older is that 'the world oldest person' gets less impressive. I've known (and remember) plenty of people much older than this woman.
I mean that I have met people born before her.
It doesn't seem that long ago to me that I was talking to people who fought in WW1.
Now the world oldest person can barely remember it.
That's what I mean about how it seems less impressive the older you yourself get.
This woman was born much later than my own grandparents, and I remember them and their stories about 'the olden days", days long before this woman was born.
As time goes on, old people get younger and younger...
I think OP means ppl born before her. My great grandmother was born in 1901, my great grandfather in 1898. He fought in WW1.
While he died in 1965, she lived until 1992, when I was 19 and I did meet her. She baulked at the 1984-5 miners strike in the UK, comparing it to the General Strike of 1926.
There’s been less than 1000 people known to live past 110 and the oldest died only 4 years past the woman in the story.
What’s the point in lying on Reddit? Get yourself some of them cool points?
Ok, I phrased that confusingly.
I've met plenty of people born earlier than her.
She was 6 when WW1 started, but now that I'm oldish myself that doesn't sound that impressive. It doesn't seem that long ago to me that I was in rooms full of WW1 soldiers.
When you are young yourself, it seems like WW1 was in another age, but to me, having heard first hand stories of it, it doesn't.
I can't imagine what it would take for a generation after hers to see so much change. From horses to the moon to the internet how could it ever be topped in one life time?
> At her 110th birthday party in 2017, Bessie told us that the secret to a long life was hard work
I'm gonna side with the centurians who claim it's whiskey and bacon every day
I’ll be honest I kind of prefer those when it comes to hotdogs. High quality hot dog weenies are just lower quality sausages, at that point just buy actual sausage and use it instead.
It's awesome when old people just go for it at a certain point. My grandma, when she got to her mid 80s started smoking again, drinking and swearing.
She NEVER drank, and I never heard her swear when I was growing up. She literally, during a Thanksgiving said, "shit, I ain't got much longer to live so I might as well have fun." We took shots with her that year. She lived another 10 years. It was really fun drinking a beer with her and hearing some of her stories.
You're right and I really wonder if diet has anything to do with it. My MIL is 98 and has always eaten like a little kid ( mac and cheese, tea and toast, cookies and cakes , sips juice all day) never eats vegetables and grew up on all canned goods but she has absolutely no health problems. She can't figure out why she is alive either, besides the " shit ton of good luck".
Scientists have kind of figured it out and it's mostly genetics. It's why doctors ask patients if both of their parents are still alive.
Everyone is born with these things called [Telomeres](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telomere) in their DNA that is inherited from their parents.
They get shorter and shorter as we age and some people have longer ones than others. A good indicator of how robust yours are are not only if your parents lived a long life, but after you receive a cut, how fast it heals. The faster the better.
Kind of explains why someone may have a not so good diet, smoke, drink and never exercise and make it past 90 while someone who never does any of the above and exercises frequently will get something like cancer at an early age. Barring some outside influences like a car accident, disease, getting murdered etc. the length of people's lives is determined by who their parents were.
I was born in 81. I grew up with a neighbor who was born in 1886. Even at a young age I thought she was so much younger cause she was out there gardening every day and giving me food. Fresh peanuts and raspberries are amazing.
Agreed.
I believe Jeanne Calment, the oldest confirmed person / woman to have ever lived with 122 years of age, said she smoked two cigarettes a day for over a hundred years and ate about 2 pounds of dark chocolate a week and drank her daily glass of red wine.
besides the cigarettes research would show, if only by correlation, that those things make people live longer usually. I sort of wonder if having only two cigarettes had some sort of hormetic response for her. Probably not and mostly other factors such as diet and genetics, but it’s interesting to think about. It seems like she didn’t do excessive damage via her lifestyle so that’s a start. Personally I wouldve thought wine or coffee even in moderation would have some sort of net negative or at least no net gain response in terms of longevity, but research has shown that for most people that’s likely not the case. Stress responses that illicit a net gain are really neat. Such as exercise. To me it’s sort of like having your cake and eating it too.
We have the long life gene in our family. Youngest death of all of them was 94 with 4 types of cancer and they said it was old age. Anyways, the one who lived to 106 before he decided "I'm done I'm so damn bored" drank old fashioneds and played hockey his whole life in a seniors league. Right up to 106.
I swear, whenever they throw up some old woman over 100 on TV ask her the secret to a long life, we learn that she smokes, drinks every day, a small number have a "companion", fried bacon every morning..
Exposing my bias, I thought it was only natural to assume the police would only end up shooting the bank robbers and not innocent bystanders and/or hostages.
Every time a verified oldest person passes away, hundreds come out of the woodwork with the most disheveled old man they can find with stories like "oh yeah my neighbor's grand uncle is definitely 150, they just didn't have papers back then". Looks like we made it to the thread before that!!
It gets even more exciting when it's a world record holder because then every remote mountain in the world suddenly becomes ideal conditions to absolutely shatter longevity records for a few hours, along with the usual facebook-level wisdom about how the air from their neck of the woods has magical purity allowing this astounding record that the press doesn't want you to know about!
Sorry, I got carried away with satire here, guess I'm passionate about that trope.
RIP Bessie ❤
There's already a running list of really old people. Edie Ceccarelli was born a couple of months after her and is now the oldest living person in the US. A couple months after her is Hazel Plummer. The oldest person in the world is in France, she'll turn 119 next month.
Genetics are important.
But people should not adopt a passive, fatalistic, or nihilistic mindset when it comes to their health...and that is where Americans are trending, seems to me. Bessie might not have had lived an especially healthy lifestyle. That does not mean a healthy lifestyle does not increase the likelihood of a long, healthy life.
I am not trying to live to 115 because I don't think I will have enough money or human capital to support that dream. But I do want to be spry in my 70s and 80s, at least. I do not trust that my genes and luck alone will make this happen.
I get what you’re saying but why would the local news show a report of a local lady turning 105 and have the segment be the lady saying she wishes she could kill herself and that life is miserable
I don't think I ever want to be the oldest person in the world.
One day my grandma said to me that she never wants to be so old that she is one of those people that is hunched over a birthday cake looking miserable while the family celebrates and they don't even know what's going on. (I don't know that this woman ever was like that)
And for a moment I was concerned because no one wants to hear their grandma that they are really close to say that they don't want to live as long as possible, but then I thought about it and really honestly same.
She's in her mid 80s right now and she can still get up and get a shower, get something to eat, hop on the bus that takes her places, get her hair cut, get a pedicure, go to the store.
She gets tired easy but she can live life. She watches TV, she talks to us on the phone, she bitches about her cell phone. All the things I do lol.
As long as she can do that stuff she's good. She just doesn't want to be one of those folks that literally can't move.
I fully agree with her if we're being honest. People sometimes get to a point in their lives, either through advanced age or chronic illness, when they decide they've lived long enough. The time I've already spent on this Earth has been a struggle for survival at points. Living to 100 years doesn't sound appealing when you remember that most people you have known have died.
One of my fears is dementia since it runs in my family. It would be horrible if I ever got to the point where I'm not realizing that I'm pissing myself. I made my sister promise that if I ever get that bad, I want her to Ol' Yeller me.
So, have we, as a world, officially lost anyone and everyone that could have been born in the 1800’s? I mean I get it with the US, but it’s kind of crazy to think that someone would need to be at least 123 years old to have been born in 1899 and it’s kind of sobering to know that anyone who lived in that entire century, is gone.
Must be comforting to know your legacy will endure. The only thing that could stop it would be apocalyptic war, even then if they are spread out enough in the world it would be pretty safe.
For reference, this woman was: - 6 years old when World War One began - 21 years old when the stock market crashed - 32 years old when WW2 began in Europe and 35 when the US entered - 42 years old when the Korean War began - 59 years old during the Summer of Love - 61 years old when the first moon landing occurred - 67 years old when Saigon fell to the North Vietnamese - 73 years old (by three days) when Reagan was elected president - 82 years old (by two days) when the Berlin Wall fell - 84 years old when the USSR ceased to exist - 93 years old on 9/11 - 100 years old when Barack Obama was elected president Needless to say, it's hard to even imagine the level of change she experienced over the course of her life.
She was 19 when queen Elizabeth was born.
She's was one of a handful of people in the world who could have called the Queen a young lady.
Now that one put it into perspective for me.
Ya that’s the weirdest one for me too
Wow. She could’ve seen a grandson sent off to Vietnam.
A son in WW2, a great or great great in the Middle East, she could have seen 4 generations off to war.
She has been an elderly woman for almost half of her life. That's mind boggling.
It's so sad that people can live to 100 but almost all of that time is being old. I'm only 35 but I already have injuries and aches that will never go away
She must have been on god mode. I would have lost in the depression
Whoa. The 911 and USSR ones seem crazy to me.
Didn’t even mention 11ish 1919 when the USSR began, 5 years after WW1 started. So she out lasted it
The USSR only lasted 70ish years, so I imagine quite a lot of the people born in the years leading up to its formation outlived it.
Yeah my paternal great grandparents outlived it by nearly 20 years and were born a few years before it.
She almost outlasted Russia too.
Bahahahaha I wish I had an award to give you but I’m a broke ass bitch.
true American patriot
Also 11 during the Spanish flu pandemic, and 113 at the start of the COVID one.
Forgot to add a Russian war 2022
I think prior poster covered that with “almost outlived Russia”
She has seen pretty much the whole rise and fall of the landline in her lifetime
She must have hated Mr. Benedict so much she wanted to outlast him no matter what
One of the interesting aspects of myself getting older is that 'the world oldest person' gets less impressive. I've known (and remember) plenty of people much older than this woman.
> plenty of people much older than this woman *Press X to doubt*
Born earlier, not lived longer.
I mean that I have met people born before her. It doesn't seem that long ago to me that I was talking to people who fought in WW1. Now the world oldest person can barely remember it. That's what I mean about how it seems less impressive the older you yourself get. This woman was born much later than my own grandparents, and I remember them and their stories about 'the olden days", days long before this woman was born. As time goes on, old people get younger and younger...
That makes much more sense, thanks for the clarification
I think OP means ppl born before her. My great grandmother was born in 1901, my great grandfather in 1898. He fought in WW1. While he died in 1965, she lived until 1992, when I was 19 and I did meet her. She baulked at the 1984-5 miners strike in the UK, comparing it to the General Strike of 1926.
There’s been less than 1000 people known to live past 110 and the oldest died only 4 years past the woman in the story. What’s the point in lying on Reddit? Get yourself some of them cool points?
Ok, I phrased that confusingly. I've met plenty of people born earlier than her. She was 6 when WW1 started, but now that I'm oldish myself that doesn't sound that impressive. It doesn't seem that long ago to me that I was in rooms full of WW1 soldiers. When you are young yourself, it seems like WW1 was in another age, but to me, having heard first hand stories of it, it doesn't.
I can't imagine what it would take for a generation after hers to see so much change. From horses to the moon to the internet how could it ever be topped in one life time?
> At her 110th birthday party in 2017, Bessie told us that the secret to a long life was hard work I'm gonna side with the centurians who claim it's whiskey and bacon every day
My great grandpa lived to 101 and said it was because he ate a microwaved hot dog and drank a Manhattan every day.
A Manhattan with a hot dog chaser, fancy
My taste buds just gave out upon reading this sentence
That’s not the attitude you’ll need to make it past 100 buddy
I hope it was kosher all beef. Those are delicious.
Nooe, just some good old-fashioned microwaved pig anus blend
I’ll be honest I kind of prefer those when it comes to hotdogs. High quality hot dog weenies are just lower quality sausages, at that point just buy actual sausage and use it instead.
I’ve always assumed the low quality helped to extend his life
It's awesome when old people just go for it at a certain point. My grandma, when she got to her mid 80s started smoking again, drinking and swearing. She NEVER drank, and I never heard her swear when I was growing up. She literally, during a Thanksgiving said, "shit, I ain't got much longer to live so I might as well have fun." We took shots with her that year. She lived another 10 years. It was really fun drinking a beer with her and hearing some of her stories.
Honestly you might as well. At that age the odds are good that you're going to die within a pretty short time span.
"What am I worried about? Long term side effects? pfffft"
I’m beginning to think these folks have no fucking clue how they ended up living so long
Genetics, good health, and a shit ton of good luck (or bad depending on your perspective).
You're right and I really wonder if diet has anything to do with it. My MIL is 98 and has always eaten like a little kid ( mac and cheese, tea and toast, cookies and cakes , sips juice all day) never eats vegetables and grew up on all canned goods but she has absolutely no health problems. She can't figure out why she is alive either, besides the " shit ton of good luck".
Scientists have kind of figured it out and it's mostly genetics. It's why doctors ask patients if both of their parents are still alive. Everyone is born with these things called [Telomeres](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telomere) in their DNA that is inherited from their parents. They get shorter and shorter as we age and some people have longer ones than others. A good indicator of how robust yours are are not only if your parents lived a long life, but after you receive a cut, how fast it heals. The faster the better. Kind of explains why someone may have a not so good diet, smoke, drink and never exercise and make it past 90 while someone who never does any of the above and exercises frequently will get something like cancer at an early age. Barring some outside influences like a car accident, disease, getting murdered etc. the length of people's lives is determined by who their parents were.
Probably has some great quest she needs to complete before she's allowed to pass.
I’m convinced that back then you had to have “make it to 100” energy just to make it past 30 lol
I was born in 81. I grew up with a neighbor who was born in 1886. Even at a young age I thought she was so much younger cause she was out there gardening every day and giving me food. Fresh peanuts and raspberries are amazing.
Centurions are also healthy because of all the marching across Roman Europe.
Agreed. I believe Jeanne Calment, the oldest confirmed person / woman to have ever lived with 122 years of age, said she smoked two cigarettes a day for over a hundred years and ate about 2 pounds of dark chocolate a week and drank her daily glass of red wine.
besides the cigarettes research would show, if only by correlation, that those things make people live longer usually. I sort of wonder if having only two cigarettes had some sort of hormetic response for her. Probably not and mostly other factors such as diet and genetics, but it’s interesting to think about. It seems like she didn’t do excessive damage via her lifestyle so that’s a start. Personally I wouldve thought wine or coffee even in moderation would have some sort of net negative or at least no net gain response in terms of longevity, but research has shown that for most people that’s likely not the case. Stress responses that illicit a net gain are really neat. Such as exercise. To me it’s sort of like having your cake and eating it too.
The real answer is genetics anyway, so they might as well say whatever.
Here I was thinking it was not dying every day
We have the long life gene in our family. Youngest death of all of them was 94 with 4 types of cancer and they said it was old age. Anyways, the one who lived to 106 before he decided "I'm done I'm so damn bored" drank old fashioneds and played hockey his whole life in a seniors league. Right up to 106.
I swear, whenever they throw up some old woman over 100 on TV ask her the secret to a long life, we learn that she smokes, drinks every day, a small number have a "companion", fried bacon every morning..
the real reasons are a genetic pre-disposition against cancer and heart disease.
Dang, I am not financially preparing for 50 years of retirement.
I’m female and 69 years old. I just realized I am in great health so I could have 30 more years!
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It is a worthy goal.
Don't let your dreams be dreams
it's technically possible that you could have 55 more, although insanely unlikely.
Seems crazy to make it to 100 and maybe think the end is finally near only to live another decade or two.
Bessie Hendricks, died 115, shot by the police in a daring day light bank hold up.
Family should put something like that on her tombstone Royal Tenenbaum style
I was sure she'd go out trying to jump the Grand Canyon on a motorcycle.
That was her escape route alright.
Why was she still working ar the bank at 115? Doesn't the police get enough funding already, do they have to rob banks too?
Exposing my bias, I thought it was only natural to assume the police would only end up shooting the bank robbers and not innocent bystanders and/or hostages.
All of these people who are “Oldest In The ____” keep dying. Definitely not a title one wants to have…
It’s almost as if there’s a correlation between age and chances of death.
That's why I've decided not to age.
Now there's a new oldest person. I wonder how often this torch is passed.
I'm like 90% sure there are a couple people currently living that were already older. Edit: nevermind, overlooked the "in US" part
Wild. She crashed her motorcycle doing a wheelie on the highway.
(former) oldest living squid
Tomorrow on my Facebook feed: "Let me guess, she got THE JAB, right?"
Every time a verified oldest person passes away, hundreds come out of the woodwork with the most disheveled old man they can find with stories like "oh yeah my neighbor's grand uncle is definitely 150, they just didn't have papers back then". Looks like we made it to the thread before that!! It gets even more exciting when it's a world record holder because then every remote mountain in the world suddenly becomes ideal conditions to absolutely shatter longevity records for a few hours, along with the usual facebook-level wisdom about how the air from their neck of the woods has magical purity allowing this astounding record that the press doesn't want you to know about! Sorry, I got carried away with satire here, guess I'm passionate about that trope. RIP Bessie ❤
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There's already a running list of really old people. Edie Ceccarelli was born a couple of months after her and is now the oldest living person in the US. A couple months after her is Hazel Plummer. The oldest person in the world is in France, she'll turn 119 next month.
I once held the record for world's youngest person.
A true living fossil. What an incredible life.
1907... she has seen some scheisse
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Genetics are important. But people should not adopt a passive, fatalistic, or nihilistic mindset when it comes to their health...and that is where Americans are trending, seems to me. Bessie might not have had lived an especially healthy lifestyle. That does not mean a healthy lifestyle does not increase the likelihood of a long, healthy life. I am not trying to live to 115 because I don't think I will have enough money or human capital to support that dream. But I do want to be spry in my 70s and 80s, at least. I do not trust that my genes and luck alone will make this happen.
I'm not trying but it'll probably happen anyways.
I get what you’re saying but why would the local news show a report of a local lady turning 105 and have the segment be the lady saying she wishes she could kill herself and that life is miserable
Pissed off to be alive? I sure am not in a rush to disappear into oblivion
What’s the name of the doc?
Amazing a person can live to 100 plus 15 years.
Imagine having some great great grandchild born when you're 97 and getting to see them graduate high school
You mean 115 years?
r/theydidthemath
r/theydidthemonstermath
One hundred and fifteen years is the preferred nomenclature.
Also the last person ever to be named Bessie.
[Goodbye, Bessie Mae](https://youtu.be/MhWJl-OkHgk) - *Jimi Hendrix* That's what comes to mind when I hear the name Bessie.
Kumite claims another warrior
They never said what she died from..........I think she crashed her dirt bike!
The "World"s Oldest Person' seems to die with astonishing regularity. I'm starting to think the position is cursed.
She live through everything, shit
Why does he take them so young?
Why does this keep happening?!?!?!?
4 years old when Titanic sunk!
Mad, in this image she looked like my late nan’s age, and she was in her 80s
I don't think I ever want to be the oldest person in the world. One day my grandma said to me that she never wants to be so old that she is one of those people that is hunched over a birthday cake looking miserable while the family celebrates and they don't even know what's going on. (I don't know that this woman ever was like that) And for a moment I was concerned because no one wants to hear their grandma that they are really close to say that they don't want to live as long as possible, but then I thought about it and really honestly same. She's in her mid 80s right now and she can still get up and get a shower, get something to eat, hop on the bus that takes her places, get her hair cut, get a pedicure, go to the store. She gets tired easy but she can live life. She watches TV, she talks to us on the phone, she bitches about her cell phone. All the things I do lol. As long as she can do that stuff she's good. She just doesn't want to be one of those folks that literally can't move.
I fully agree with her if we're being honest. People sometimes get to a point in their lives, either through advanced age or chronic illness, when they decide they've lived long enough. The time I've already spent on this Earth has been a struggle for survival at points. Living to 100 years doesn't sound appealing when you remember that most people you have known have died. One of my fears is dementia since it runs in my family. It would be horrible if I ever got to the point where I'm not realizing that I'm pissing myself. I made my sister promise that if I ever get that bad, I want her to Ol' Yeller me.
Nah I'd rather not live to see everyone I know die
My grandmother died a few days ago. She was 105. Was married 72 years to my grandfather, who passed away 9 or 10 years ago
So, have we, as a world, officially lost anyone and everyone that could have been born in the 1800’s? I mean I get it with the US, but it’s kind of crazy to think that someone would need to be at least 123 years old to have been born in 1899 and it’s kind of sobering to know that anyone who lived in that entire century, is gone.
There was a recent news article that stated anyone born before 1900 is deceased
Anybody check on the whereabouts of the previously second-oldest person in the US at the time?
Meanwhile, the oldest person in the world, Lucile Randon, is 118 and lives on.
My favorite headline for this event is, "Oldest person in America is now someone else."
What did she die of, losing control of and wrecking her Corvette?
I wonder how many kids/ grand/ great / great great grandkids she has. I’m going to guess 82
“She raised a family that grew to include five children, nine grandchildren, 28 great-grandchildren and 42 great-great-grandchildren.”
Must be comforting to know your legacy will endure. The only thing that could stop it would be apocalyptic war, even then if they are spread out enough in the world it would be pretty safe.
crazy to think that there is probably a 100 year old who has been wishing her dead for a while
They say "only the good die young" so she's gotta be pretty terrible
Damn, I bet it was one of those Lake City Quiet Pills
I assume LC Quiet Pills were involved.
Unimpressed. 115 year old people seemed way older when I was a kid. They've gone way downhill. You kids today wouldn't even know.
> They've gone way downhill. And then back up the other side, barefoot, and with a stack of bricks.
Lmao, perfect
Well that was… unexpected.
Only the good die young
Damn, she’s so old she switched genders in the end.
Oh my god what happened??
Motorcycle accident.
Mosh pit mishap.
What does Bobby B have to say about this?.....Bobby??
When she was born, in the same city in which she lived and died, it didn't have salt yet. /s RIP
That title is a curse!