Paris: A woman from France believed to be the world’s oldest person has passed away a few weeks before her 119th birthday. French nun Lucile Randon, known as Sister André, was born in the town of Ales, southern France, on February 11, 1904. She was also one of the world’s oldest survivors of COVID-19.
She died at 2 am on Tuesday at the Sainte-Catherine-Laboure nursing home in the town of Toulon, David Tavella, the spokesperson for her nursing home in southern France was quoted as saying by news agency Associated Press on Wednesday. The Gerontology Research Group, which validates details of people thought to be 110 or older, listed her as the oldest known person in the world after the death of Japan’s Kane Tanaka, aged 119, last year.
Sister André tested positive for the coronavirus in January 2021, shortly before her 117th birthday, but she had so few symptoms that she didn’t even realize she was infected. Her survival made headlines both in France and beyond. In April last year, asked about her exceptional longevity through two world wars, she told French media that “working … makes you live. I worked until I was 108.”
She was known to enjoy a daily glass of wine and chocolate. The oldest living known person in the world listed by the Gerontology Research Group is now American-born Maria Branyas Morera, who is living in Spain and is 115. The oldest male in the world is 113-year-old Juan Vicente Pérez, from Venezuela. Last year, Lucile had become the world's oldest person after the passing of Japan's Kane Tanaka at the age of 119.
