Jeralean Talley

Jeralean Talley (born May 23, 1899 in Montrose , Georgia as Jeralean Kurtz , † June 17, 2015 in Inkster , Michigan ) was an American supercentenarian and from April 6 to June 17, 2015 the oldest living person in the world .

biography

Talley was of African American descent and was born in 1899 to Samuel and Amelia Kurtz . She spent her childhood with her eleven siblings on a farm, where she harvested cotton , peanuts and sweet potatoes . In 1935 she moved to Inkster , Michigan , where she lived the rest of her life. In 1936 she married Alfred Talley (born January 30, 1893), with whom she had a daughter in 1937, Thelma Holloway. Talley was married to him for 52 years until Alfred died on October 17, 1988 at the age of 95.

Talley only drove a car once in her life, and never wanted to try again after that. When she was 99, she had to stay in hospital for the first time (apart from her pregnancy) because of high blood pressure. However, she remained very active even in old age, according to her daughter, she sewed clothes, made quilts and played slot machines in casinos. She played bowling until she was 104, when her legs became weak. However, she continued to go fishing with her godchild Tyler and his father Michael Kinloch annually; at the age of 114 she caught seven catfish in May 2013 . Her daughter moved in with her at the end of 2008.

Jeralean Talley was part of the New Jerusalem Missionary Baptist Church , a Baptist congregation where she attended weekly services and whose members referred to her as "Mother Talley". She lived by the golden rule , according to which one should treat others as one wants to be treated oneself. Known in her community for her wisdom and wit, she was sometimes asked for advice, "I didn't have a lot of education, but what little sense I have I try to use." On her 114th birthday, the driveway became named after her in the church.

On the same day she received a letter from US President Barack Obama , who wrote that she was "part of an extraordinary generation". Two years later, on her 116th birthday, she received another letter from him in which he told her that "the breadth of her experience and the depth of her wisdom reflect the long road our country has come since 1899". In both letters, Obama recognized her status as the oldest living American woman. At 116 she could still walk with a stick, even if she rarely did, but was very slow and had hearing difficulties.

Talley died on June 17, 2015, at the age of 116 years and 25 days after a week in the hospital, of lung fluid. She did not want to suffer before her death and died in her sleep in her home in Inkster. Blaming God for her extraordinarily old age, she said, “There is nothing I can do to influence this.” She left three grandchildren, ten great-grandchildren and four great-great-grandchildren in addition to her daughter.

Age records

Jeralean Talley was believed to be the oldest living American woman as of March 21, 2013 until Gertrude Weaver was able to prove she was older in July 2014. Since June 12, 2013, she was one of the three oldest living people, from April 1, 2015, she was the second oldest. After Weaver's death on April 6, 2015, Talley became the oldest living person in both the United States and the world. At her death, she was number 5 oldest Americans and number 11 oldest person of all time . Since March 2020 she has been in 21st place. With Susannah Mushatt Jones and Emma Morano , Talley was one of the last three people alive to be born before 1900. After her death, her compatriot of the same ethnicity, Mushatt Jones, became the oldest living person in the world.

See also

• List of the oldest people
• List of the oldest women

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Jeralean Talley, World's Oldest Person, Celebrates Her 116th Birthday , NBC News . May 23, 2015. Accessed May 24, 2015. 
2. ^ Alfred Talley, "United States Census, 1940" . In: Family Search .
3. ^ Elisha Anderson: Michigan woman now the oldest person in US . In: USA Today , April 3, 2013. 
4. ^ Local centenarians honored at Charles H. Wright Museum's Summer Theater Festival . In: The Michigan Citizen . July 25, 2013. Retrieved October 27, 2013.
5. ^ The oldest person in America turned 114 yesterday (PICTURED) . In: Ynaija.com . May 25, 2013. Retrieved May 28, 2013.
6. ^ Michigan woman celebrates 114th birthday with friends, family . In: Lansing State Journal.com . May 26, 2013. Archived from the original on June 15, 2013. Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved May 28, 2013. 
7. ↑ Inkster's Jeralean Talley, world's oldest person, turns 116 Saturday . In: Detroit Free Press . May 22, 2015. Accessed May 23, 2015.
8. ↑ Jeralean Talley, world's oldest person, it at 116 . In: USA Today , June 18, 2015. 
9. ↑ Happy 114th Birthday to Jeralean Talley, The Oldest Living American! . In: TIME.com , May 28, 2013. Retrieved May 27, 2013. 
10. ^ At 116, Arkansas woman named oldest American , MSN . July 4, 2014. Retrieved August 28, 2014. 
11. ^ World's oldest person, Arkansan Gertrude Weaver, dies . April 6, 2015. 
12. ↑ World's oldest-known person Jeralean Talley dies at 116 , accessed June 19, 2015.