Edith Ceccarelli – Gerontology Research Group

Lifespan: (05.02.1908 – 22.02.2024)
Age: 116 years, 17 days
Birthplace: Willits, Mendocino County, California, USA
Last residence: Willits, Mendocino County, California, USA
Application date: 05.02.2018
Validation date: 16.03.2022
Validation source: Robert Young/Evelyn Persico/Oliver Thorpe/Ilias Leivaditis/Waclaw Jan Kroczek

Biography

Edith “Edie” Ceccarelli was born in Willits, California, USA on 5 February 1908. She was the first of seven children born to Italian immigrants Agostino and Maria Recagno. She married Elmer “Brick” Keenan and moved to Santa Rosa, California, where he worked as a pressman for the Santa Rosa Democrat. When he retired after 36 years, they returned to Willits. After her husband’s death in 1984, she married Charles Ceccarelli in 1986. She widowed in 1990.

Ceccarelli lived in her own home until the age of 107, after which she moved into a senior living facility. She had one hip replaced at the age of 109 and the other at the age of 111.

Ceccarelli celebrated her 110th birthday and became a supercentenarian in February 2018. She was still capable of walking with the aid of a walker as of her 114th birthday in 2022.

Edie Ceccarelli died in the town of her birth – Willits, California, USA on 22 February 2024 at the age of 116 years, 17 days.

Longevity Recognition

Ceccarelli became the oldest living person in California following the death of 114-year-old Mila Mangold on 2 July 2022. She is currently the second-oldest validated person ever born in the U.S. state of California, after Maria Branyas Morera.

Following the death of 115-year-old Bessie Hendricks on 3 January 2023, Ceccarelli became the oldest validated living person in the United States (Doyenne of the USA).

Since the death of 118-year-old Lucile Randon on 17 January 2023, Ceccarelli has been the third-oldest living person in the world whose age is validated by the GRG, behind Maria Branyas Morera and Fusa Tatsumi.

Since the death of Hazel Plummer on 25 May 2023, Ceccarelli has been the last surviving validated person in the United States who was born in 1908.

On 16 October 2023, at the age of 115 years, 253 days, she became the oldest person ever to have lived in California after surpassing the final age of Christian Mortensen (1882-1998) of San Rafael, California.

On 12 December 2023, following the death of 116-year-old Fusa Tatsumi, she became the second-oldest validated living person in the world, behind Maria Branyas Morera.

Longevity Titles

Doyenne of the USA (03.01.2023 – 22.02.2024)

Validation

The case of Edith Ceccarelli was verified by Robert Young, Evelyn Persico, Oliver Thorpe, Ilias Leivaditis, and Waclaw Jan Kroczek, and validated by the GRG on 16 March 2023.