Oldest woman in the world, dead

116, shit!

What's below may not fit in current events, but it's in the spirit of Micha's "holy shit" entry. It's some thoughts I wrote 2 years ago when my grandmother's older sister passed away at Age 108:

A woman I have admired all of my life, my late grandmother's older sister, passed away this week. As you read below, think of the changes this woman saw in her life.

Born before the Spanish American War under the presidency of Grover Cleveland, probably idolizing Abraham Lincoln in her youth as some today idolize John Kennedy, already 10 years old when the Wright brothers first flew, started her first adult job when cars were still a rarity. Telephones were almost unheard of. Married before WWI under the Woodrow Wilson administration.

Nearly 30 years old before she had the right to vote. Think about that. Already in her 30s when Marconi invented the radio. On through the Great Depression (nearly 40), the rise of Hitler, WWII, nuclear bombs, death of Franklin Roosevelt, television, nuclear power, commercial airlines (she never flew), the Korean War, birth of the computer, space flight, Cuban missle crisis, assasinations of President Kennedy, Malcolm X, Martin Luther King, and Bobby Kennedy.

The Vietnam War, man landing on the moon, wage and price controls, personal computers, Crash of '87 (having already seen the Crash of '29), the Gulf War, and the tragedy of September 11th.

Excerpted from the Peshtigo, Wisconsin, Times:
"Emma Fredrikson, 108, longtime Athelstane resident, died Tuesday, Nov. 27 in Niagara. She was born June 19, 1893 in the Town of Peshtigo, presently named the Town of Silver Cliff, only 22 years after the great Peshtigo Fire devastated the area. She is the eldest daughter of the late Civil War veteran, Ebenezer Haley and his wife, Ida. After high school, she attended Stephenson Training School in Marinette and graduated on June 23, 1911. She taught school until she married Swedish immigrant Carl Fredrikson on Oct. 31,1914 in Iron Mountain. They made their home on a farm in Athelstane. He preceded her in death in 1967.

Survivors include one sister, Carolyn "Carrie" Grunberg, 102, of Downers Grove, Illinois [Carrie passed away in 2003 at age 105]."

I hadn't seen Aunt Emma since she was a young girl in her 80s. Mom visited her for a few days 4 or 5 times a year and talked on the phone almost weekly. Until I was in my 20s, a summer visit or two to Aunt Emma and Uncle Carl's farm was a requirement. I learned a lot about the simple life in those days. For instance, there was no inside plumbing or running water on the farm. Ahhhh, to think of the hand pump in the kitchen and of the old outhouse wallpapered with Collier's Magazine covers! See some examples here.

Evenings were usually spent at the farmhouse kitchen table playing pinochle, in front of the wood stove Emma used for cooking and heat. We'd let the old girls just talk and talk about family and the old days. One of the attendees was always Aunt Emma's aunt, Alice, the sister of the civil war veteran. Talk about great stories. She passed away at 104. Still lived in the one-room home across the highway, with no plumbing, no electricity and a woodstove for heat and cooking.

I still idolize Uncle Carl, a real live Scandinavian carpenter and sometimes lumberjack who brought his woodworking tools from Sweden. He was still using them when he died at age 79 following a fall from the roof of a lake cabin--one of two he was building for friends at the time, alone and by hand.

I think a lot of my personality and values came from those hardscrabble farm folk in the woods of northern Wisconsin. *sniff*

That Guinness "Oldest Person in the World" label is a hexed!!!

What, the person who holds it always dies?

I would NEVER want to live that long. Never ever.

Why not? You might feel differently later on...

See kids? SMOKING KILLS!!!

The title of this thread implys that she still qualifies to be called the oldest woman in the world. Shit, if we're still counting the dead, I'm sure we can find an older bitch.

Yeah. Creepy.

Where are the right to lifers when you need them!!!

There is this great sign near here. It's a senior citizen crossing sign. It looks just like a school crossing sign, but instead of saying school it says seniors. The best part about it, is that it is right across the street from the graveyard. I giggle every time I drive by it.

damn typos

[Edited on Nov 04, 2003 by handle]

Oldest fresh corpse in the world.