They lived in three centuries
They lived in three centuries
Two of the oldest people in the world have died on the same day.
Mary Josephine Ray, who was certified as the oldest person living in the United States, died Sunday at age of 114 years.
"She just enjoyed life. She never thought of dying at all," Katherine Ray said. "She was planning for her birthday party."
Ray died just hours before Daisey Bailey, who was 113 years old, said L. Stephen Coles, a director of the Gerontology Research Group, which tracks and studies old people and certifies those 110 or older, called supercentenarians.
"It's very rare that two of our supercentenarians die on the same day," Coles said.
Ray was the oldest person in the United States and the second-oldest in the world, the Gerontology Research Group said. She also was recorded as the oldest person ever to live in New Hampshire.
The oldest living American is now Neva Morris, of Ames, Iowa, at age 114 years, 216 days. The oldest person in the world is Japan's Kama Chinen at age 114 years, 301 days.
Ray was born May 17, 1895, in Bloomfield, Prince Edward Island, Canada. She moved to the United States at age 3.
She lived for 60 years in Anson, Maine. She lived in Florida, Massachusetts and elsewhere in New Hampshire before she moved to Westmoreland in 2002 to be near her children.
Ray's husband, Walter Ray, died in 1967. Survivors include two sons, eight grandchildren, 13 great-grandchildren and five great-great-grandchildren.
Morris, the Iowa woman now believed to be the oldest U.S. resident, lives at a care center. Only one of her four children, a son in Sioux City, is still alive.
"She has some hearing deficiencies and a visual deficiency, but mentally she is quite alert and will respond when she feels like it and isn't too tired," said her 90-year-old son-in-law, Tom Wickersham, who lives in the same care center.
Wickersham said he visits his mother-in-law — who plays bingo and enjoys singing "You Are My Sunshine" — nearly every day.
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- Posted on March 9, 2010
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That is really cool that she could live this old. She got to see the development of the car, and technology . She must have some really cool stories she could tell.
It has always been a dream of mine to live over the age of 100 years old. Imagine all the things she's seen, the stories she can tell, the people she's met. It's truly mind-boggling that a person can simply not think about death, and live to be this old. Jealousy, and hope, is what i feel while reading this story. Rest in peace Mary and Daisy.
WOW! I'm very surprised that she lived that long and NEVER thought of dying! This article is VERY interesting, Well at least she lived to see the 21st century i find that simply amazing!
Wow! That is super amazing to live for 114 years and to become the one of the two oldest people in the world. Well, that's bad news for her that she died so quick on Sunday.
Wow! That is amazing! Being able live for 114 yrs. Just imagine all of the things she has experienced throughout history. All the things she has seen, all of her explortions an so on. That would be so cool to be able to live for that long period of time.
She was really lucky to have been alive for that long she witnessed so much history and made it ti the 21 century so she was very lucky.
Wow I am very surprised that she lived that long and never thought of dying! I think this is cool to read about because of her age! I am so happy that she was planning for her birthday!
wow thats along time! but idk if i would want to live that long especially if u couldnt do anything. cause u may get sick and just be missreble....--
I would not like living that long. And besides it's not the person who lived the longest. It's in the bible times; Methuselah, 969 years long! And if you don't believe me. READ THE BIBLE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
This is amazing!!! And thats very many years to live!!! I wld like to be able to live many years!!!! Its amazing of how much u wld be able to see in that long of a life time... And also how much you wld be able to explore..