The oldest living person in the US just turned 115

By Zoe Sottile

Bessie Hendricks (center), the oldest living person in the US, celebrated her 115th birthday on November 7th.

Bring out the candles – 115 of them.

Bessie Hendricks, the oldest living person in the United States, has celebrated yet another turn around the sun. The Iowa supercentenarian turned 115 on November 7, according to CNN affiliate KCCI.

Hendricks was born in 1907. Her lifetime has seen 21 presidents, two world wars, and the sinking of the Titanic.  

In addition to being the oldest living person in the United States, she is also the fourth-oldest living person in the world, according to the Gerontology Research Group, which records and certifies supercentenarians (people who have lived to be older than 110).

Hendricks celebrated her 115th birthday alongside her three children at Shady Oaks Care Center, according to KCCI.

“I don’t know how you put it into words,” said her daughter, Joan Schaffer, according to KCCI. Schaffer turned 90 the day before her mother’s 115th birthday. “It’s marvelous that we still have her.”

Hendricks’ children described her as a hard-working, caring mother. Hendricks’ own mother died when she was just 13 years old, according to KCCI.

Currently, the title for oldest living person belongs to Lucile Randon, a 118-year old French nun, says the Gerontology Research Group. The oldest person ever recorded was another Frenchwoman, Jeanne Louise Calment, who lived to be over 122 years old, according to the Guinness World Records. Calment died in 1997.

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The oldest living person in the US just turned 115