There are some of us who want to live forever while the rest of us are happy if we manage to shake a limb or two at our 80th birthday party. The following probably belonged to the former category.
1. Jeanne Calment
Jeanne Calment was about 122 years old when she died in 1997! She roamed the streets on her bicycle till she blew out 100 candles and took up fencing when she was 85 years old. She used olive oil to cook her food and found it relaxing when she rubbed it onto her skin. Not only that, but she also ate about 2.2 pounds of chocolate every week and smoked till her 117th birthday.
2. Shigechiyo Izumi
This man lived for almost 121 years- he was born in 1865 and died in 1986. He was born in Japan and worked for 98 years. He was fond of alcoholic beverage and decided to take up chain smoking on his 70thbirthday. He died of pneumonia.
3. Sarah Knauss
Sarah Knauss was born in 1880 and died in 1999. She was all of 119 years old and was born in Pennsylvania, where she spent her whole life. Unfortunately, she could not enter the new millennium as she died on 30th December 1999! She loved to watch golf and eat potato chips.
4. Lucy Hannah
Lucy Hannah was born in 1875 and died in 1993 and if you do the math, she was 117 years old.
5. Marie-Louise Meilleur
This woman died in 1998 at 117 years of age. Her son was living with her at a nursing home and her daughter had celebrated 90 birthdays by the time she died! While she did not eat meat, she smoked like a chimney.
6. Maria Esther Heredia de Capovilla
Maria Esther Heredia de Capovilla died when she was almost 117 years old in 2006. She lived quite luxuriously and almost died when she was 100 years old but managed to keep health problems at bay till she died of pneumonia.
7. Tane Ikai
Tana Ikai was the oldest woman in Japan when she died in 1995, aged 116.5 years. She outlived all her children and lived in a retirement home where she had two strokes- the second one left her bed-ridden.
8. Elizabeth Bolden
Elizabeth Bolden died in 2006 and was about 116 years old when she died. She was born in Tennessee. She had 7 children through her life out of which two were alive when she was on her deathbed. This woman had 40 grand children and about 73 great-great-great-great grand-children!
9. Carrie C. White
No, we are not talking about the telekinetic teenager from Stephen King’s “Carrie”. This Carrie C. White was born in 1874 and died in 1991. Interestingly, she did not die of old age but of a nervous breakdown. Now what could have made her that anxious? Maybe looked into the mirror.
10. Kamato Hongo
Kamato Hongo was born in 1887 and was 116 years old when he died in the year 2003. She died from pneumonia after which she became a mini celebrity and if you visit Tokunoshima, you will be able to find wash-cloths and key-rings with her photograph plastered all over them.
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