The supercentenarian belonged to Iowa and died on January 3. She is survived by 3 of her 5 children, 9 grandchildren, 28 great-grandchildren, and 42 great-great-grandchildren.
Bessie Hendricks, believed to be the oldest person in the US, died on January 3. She was 115 years old. The supercentenarian celebrated her 115th birthday at the home on November 7, 2022, and was listed, last year, by the Los Angeles-based Gerontology Research Group as the country’s oldest living person until her death, according to Associated Press. She died at the Shady Oaks Care Center, according to Lampe & Powers Funeral Home in Lake City. Her funeral service was held on January 8.
Hendricks is survived by three of her five children, nine grandchildren, 28 great-grandchildren, and 42 great-great-grandchildren, per Fox 59. In an interview with Messenger, on her 112th birthday, Hendricks and her family had credited "working hard, eating sweets, and staying away from doctors" as her secrets for living such a long life.
An Iowa woman believed to have been the oldest living person in the U.S. has died at age 115.
— The Associated Press (@AP) January 5, 2023
Born in 1907, Bessie Laurena Hendricks was alive for news of the sinking of the Titanic, World War I and II, and both the Spanish flu and COVID-19 pandemics. https://t.co/E5sl2PDnDk
According to Messenger News, Hendricks was born to Hugh and Mattie (Clark) Sharkey, on a farm in Carroll County a few miles southeast of Auburn on Nov. 7, 1907. She had two older siblings John, David, Laurence, and Ethel. A younger sister, Anna, was born in 1910 after the family moved in 1908 to a 160-acre farm two miles east and one mile north of Lake City in Calhoun County.
Bessie Hendricks passed away in Iowa on Tuesday at 115 years old. She was the oldest living person in America. RIP 🙏🕊 pic.twitter.com/0KXZpnkjmy
— Daily Loud (@DailyLoud) January 6, 2023
At age 5, Hendricks began attending first grade at the country school across the road from the family’s farm. After school, she also helped with household chores. During her high school years, she completed a training course that allowed her to teach country school following her graduation. Starting in the fall of 1926, she taught country school in the Lake City area for four years. Hendricks had 21 students in school during her first year of teaching. She had enjoyed her job as a teacher.
Sometime later, Hendricks attended a dance in Lohrville one evening with a friend named Art Hendricks, where she met Art's older brother and her future husband, Paul Hendricks. Paul worked at the grain elevator and had a small store. They got married on June 27, 1930, at the Woodlawn Christian Church in Lake City. Their daughters, Shirley and Joan, were born during the next three years that they spent living in Rands. The family later moved to a farm east of Lake City. After the couple retired and sold their farm in 1979, they moved to a home in Lake City in July 1980. The couple was about to celebrate their 65th anniversary when Paul passed away on May 25, 1995.
New record: Oldest living person - Sister André, aged 118 years and 73 days old.
— Guinness World Records (@GWR) April 25, 2022
Sister André, born 11 February 1904 as Lucile Randon, is the oldest living person as well as the world's oldest nun and the oldest person to survive COVID-19 🙏 pic.twitter.com/3HisPI4saO
Following Bessie Hendrick's death, Edie Ceccarelli of California is now the oldest living American, according to the Gerontology Research Group. Ceccarelli will turn 115 on February 5. Maria Branyas Morera, 118, who currently lives in Spain, is technically the oldest living US citizen, according to the website. She was born on March 4, 1907. In April, Guinness World Records confirmed that a French nun named Sister André is the world's oldest person at 118 years and 73 days old, PEOPLE reported.
References:
https://www.messengernews.net/news/local-news/2019/11/happy-112th/
https://people.com/human-interest/woman-believed-to-be-the-oldest-person-in-the-u-s-dead-at-115/
https://fox59.com/news/national-world/bessie-hendricks-oldest-american-dies-at-age-115/
https://gerontology.fandom.com/wiki/Bessie_Hendricks
https://gerontology.fandom.com/wiki/Edie_Ceccarelli
Cover Image Source: Youtube | KCCI
