World's oldest person dies 5 days after receiving the title

(Image credit: Twitter.com/KATVNews)

published 7 April 2015

Just five days after being named the oldest person in the world, Gertrude Weaver of Camden, Arkansas, died Monday at the age of 116 from complications of pneumonia.

Official records have Weaver’s birthday as July 4, 1898, and she had invited President Obama to attend her birthday party this year. She married in 1915 and had four children with her husband, who died in 1969. Weaver attended church every Sunday with her last surviving son, Joe, who turns 94 on Tuesday. The title will now be passed to Jeralean Talley, 115, who lives in Michigan with her 77-year-old daughter.

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Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.