Posted on 08/31/2005 6:39:31 PM PDT by REactor
A Dutch woman officially recognised as the world's oldest person has died at the age of 115.
Hendrikje van Andel-Schipper died in her sleep at the care home where she lived, the director of the centre said.
The former needlework teacher was born in 1890, and often said her long life was down to a daily dose of herring.
Mrs van Andel's husband died of cancer in 1959, but she continued to live on her own until she moved into the retirement home at the age of 105.
Commonly known as Hennie, she entered the Guinness Book of Records as the world's oldest person in 2004.
Her successor is another 115-year-old woman, Elizabeth Bolden of Tennessee, in the US. The oldest man is Puerto Rican Emiliano Mercado del Toro, 114.
A herring a day
Johan Beijering, director of the care home where Mrs van Andel lived, said she had remained mentally alert right up until she died.
But she was aware of her increasing physical frailty in the days before her death, Mr Beijering said, recalling some of her final words.
"It's been nice, but the man upstairs says it's time to go," she told him.
Mrs van Andel was a passionate football fan, and supported Ajax of Amsterdam, the Netherlands' leading team, for most of her life.
She married a tax inspector in the 1930s and sold her jewellery for cash during the German occupation of Amsterdam in World War Two.
Quizzed about her longevity on her 114th birthday, she told reporters:
"I eat a herring every day and I drink a glass of orange juice every day for the vitamins."
Mr Beijering said she was grateful for all her friends and the way people cared for her over many years.
"She felt that being the oldest person in the world for more than a year was long enough."
LET HER REST IN PEACE
What a dear woman.
My personal goal is 120. MY grandpa is 104 and still climbs trees to pick his own mangoes so I think I'll make it!
Bush's fault.
I'd hate to have that title. Seems like the World's Oldest Person has lifespan of about 3 or 4 months before they drop dead ;-)
Another one? If we keep on losing our "oldest persons" like this, pretty soon there will be none left.
Oh Thank the Lord!
I Assumed it was Helen Thomas who died!
I remember the sweet photo of her having a Coke on her 115 birthday. She looked like a real character.
It seems like every time they find the 'Worlds Oldest Person', they die just a few months later. Didn't this happen before?
(Denny Crane: "Sometimes you can only look for answers from God and failing that... and Fox News".)
"My personal goal is 120"
I've known, since I was a kid, that I'm destined to be live until I'm at least 120.
I visualize myself with a long white beard, walking on a beach in the tropics.
My prayer is that I enjoy the good health that God has granted me.
Born in 1890?
She was 22 when the Titanic sank.
She was 39 when the stock Market crashed in 1929.
She was 51 when Pearl Harbor was attacked.
She was 65 when The Salk vaccine against polio was introduced.
She was 73 when Kennedy was shot.
She was 90 when Reagan was first elected President.
She was 108 when Matt Drudge broke the Monica story.
Salut!
Port Salut!
Doesn't the worlds oldest person die about three times a year?
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