Marie-Louise Meilleur

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Marie-Louise Fébronie Meilleur (born Chassé ; born August 29, 1880 in Kamouraska , Québec , † April 16, 1998 in East Ferris , Ontario ) was a Canadian age record holder. She is the fifth oldest verified person of all time and the oldest person from Canada. She was also the oldest living person in the world from August 4, 1997 until her death on April 16, 1998.

Life

Meilleur was born on August 29, 1880 to Pierre Chassé (1849-1911) and Febronie Levesque (1852-1912) in the Canadian state of Québec and is of French origin. In 1900, she married her first husband Étienne Lelerc (1849–1911) in her birthplace . With him she had six children, namely Marie-Louise (1901–1940), Marie-Julienne (1902–1903), Marie-Albertine (1904–1904), Gerard (1906–1986), Gabrielle (1908–2004) and Maurice (1910-1973). After the death of her parents and her husband in 1913, Meilleur left two of their children and moved to Rapides-des-Joachims , Québec, on the border with Ontario . Only once, in 1939, did she return to her home region.

In 1915 she married her second husband Hector Meilleur (1879–1972), with whom she also fathered six children. These were Ernest (1916–2005), Pauline (1918–1980), Olive (1920–2010), Christie (1922–1987), Alfred (1924–1986) and Rita (1925–2011). After her husband's death in 1972, Meilleur lived with a daughter and later in a nursing home in East Ferris . She smoked tobacco regularly until her nineties. In the last decade of her life, however, she was blind, almost deaf and physically very weak.

On March 20, 1993, she became the oldest living Canadian woman, and on March 25, 1994, she became the oldest person from Canada ever. After Tane Ikai's death on July 12, 1995, Meilleur became the second oldest living person in the world and the second oldest person of all time on February 21, 1997. She became the oldest person alive after the death of 122-year-old French woman Jeanne Calment on August 4, 1997.

Meilleur died of a thrombus (blood clot) on April 16, 1998 at the age of 117 years 230 days in her East Ferris nursing home . She was buried next to her second husband in Rapides-des-Joachims. She survived four of Meilleur's twelve children, and one of her sons even lived in the same nursing home. At her death she also had 85 grandchildren, 80 great-grandchildren, 57 great-great-grandchildren and four great-great-great-grandchildren.

She was the sixth person to live over 115 years of age, the third person to live over 116, and the second person to reach 117 years of age. After her death, the title of oldest living person went to the American Sarah Knauss , who was born just a month after Meilleur and became the first person to exceed Meilleur's life span. Today (August 2020) the Canadian is the fifth oldest person of all time, behind Calment, Knauss and the Japanese Nabi Tajima and Kane Tanaka .

See also

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Bernard Jeune: Jeanne Calment and her Successors . In: Supercentenarians (Demographic Research Monographs) . Springer, May 2010, pp. 295-298. ISBN 978-3-642-11519-6
  2. ^ Prem Bhandari: Heal & Prevent Stroke & Heart Disease . iUniverse, May 15, 2007, ISBN 978-0-595-86217-7 , p. 346.
  3. ↑ http://www3.sympatico.ca/mgchassey/M_Lse/M_Lse.htm
  4. ↑ http://www3.sympatico.ca/mgchassey/M_Lse/M_Lse2.htm
  5. ↑ Robert Mcg Thomas Jr: Marie-Louise Meilleur, 117, And Felicie Cormier, 118. In: The New York Times. April 18, 1998, accessed May 11, 2016 .
personal data
SURNAME Meilleur, Marie-Louise
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Meilleur, Marie-Louise Fébronie (full name); Chassé, Marie-Louise Fébronie (maiden name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Canadian age record holder
DATE OF BIRTH August 29, 1880
PLACE OF BIRTH Kamouraska
DATE OF DEATH April 16, 1998
Place of death East Ferris