Free Republic

A South African woman celebrated her '118th birthday' today as one of the oldest people in the world with a small party at her care home. Margaret Maritz joined other residents, carers and two of her daughters for celebrations at the home in Touws River, 110 miles northeast of Cape Town. She was born on September 27, 1906, according to a copy of her identity card. The document has not been independently verified but if confirmed would make Maritz the world's oldest living person. The current record-holder is Japanese national Tomiko Itooka who was born on May 23, 1908. Alongside...

A French nun who was believed to be the world’s oldest person but had been reportedly growing weary of the burdens of age has died a few weeks before her 119th birthday, her nursing home in southern France said Wednesday. Lucile Randon, known as Sister André, was born in the town of Ales, southern France, on Feb. 11, 1904, and lived through the two world wars. As a little girl she was astonished by her first contact with electric lighting at school and, more recently, survived COVID-19 without even realizing she’d been infected.Spokesman David Tavella said she died at 2...