In 1908

Photo Gallery for Supercentenarians born in the year 1908, as of 2022.


Inah Canabarro Lucas, 114

Inah Canabarro Lucas at age 108.
Inah Canabarro Lucas, 108

Inah Canabarro Lucas on her 110th birthday.
Inah Canabarro Lucas, 110

Inah Canabarro Lucas on her 114th birthday.
Inah Canabarro Lucas, 114

Photo courtesy of the Brazilian Press.

June 8, 2022; Inah Canabarro Lucas was born in Sao Francisco de Assis, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil on June 8, 1908 (claims May 27, 1908) to parents Joao Antonio Lucas and Mariana Canabarro Lucas. She is the great-granddaughter of General David Canabarro. Her father died in combat in 1923. Inah studied at the Santa Teresa de Jesus boarding school, in Santana do Livramento. Around 1928, she moved to Montevideo, Uruguay, where she became a nun. In 1930, she returned to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil to teach Portuguese and mathematics at a school in Tijuca. In the early 1940s, she moved to Santana do Livramento as a teacher. She became the oldest known living nun in Brazil, following the death of Luzia Mohrs on October 16, 2017. She credits her longevity to God. On 25 January 2021 at the age of 112, she received her first dose of Covid-19 vaccine, making her one of oldest people to receive the COVID-19 vaccine. On 2 January 2022, at the age of 113 years, 208 days, she surpassed the age of Luzia Mohrs, becoming the oldest Brazilian ecclesiastical person ever. Canabarro Lucas became the oldest validated living person in Brazil, following the death of Antonia da Santa Cruz on January 23, 2022.

Canabarro Lucas currently lives in Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, at the age of 114 years, 17 days. In June 2022 she was the oldest validated living nun in Brazil, the second-oldest validated living nun in the world (behind Lucile Randon), and the third-oldest validated living person in Latin America (behind Casilda Benegas and Sofia Rojas).


Edith Ceccarelli, 114

Edith Ceccarelli on her 110th birthday.
Edith Ceccarelli, 110

Edith Ceccarelli on her 112th birthday.
Edith Ceccarelli, 112

Edith Ceccarelli on her 114th birthday.
Edith Ceccarelli, 114

Edith Ceccarelli as a young woman.
Edith Ceccarelli, 24

Photo courtesy of the Willits News, California.

Mar. 16, 2022; Edith “Edie” Ceccarelli was born in Willits, California, USA, on February 5, 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, the couple returned to Willits. After her husband’s death in 1984, she married Charles Ceccarelli in 1986. He died in 1990. At the time of her 110th birthday, Ceccarelli lived in Willits, California. She lived in her own home until the age of 107, after which she moved into a senior living facility. She became a supercentenarian in February 2018, and celebrated her 111th birthday in February 2019. She was still capable of walking with the aid of a walker as of her 114th birthday in 2022. At the beginning of 2022, Edith Ceccarelli was the second-oldest validated living person in California (behind Mila Mangold), the fourth-oldest validated living person in the United States (behind Bessie Hendricks, Mila Mangold, and Irene Dunham), and the second-oldest validated person ever born in California (behind Maria Branyas Morera).


Kahoru Furuya, 113

Kahoru Furuya at age 103:
Kahoru Furuya, 103

Kahoru Furuya at age 112:
Kahoru Furuya, 112

Kahoru Furuya at age 113:
Kahoru Furuya, 113
Photo courtesy of Kahoru Furuya’s family and Yumi Yamamoto, GRG-Japan Correspondent.

Dec. 20, 2021; Kahoru Furuya was born in Japan on February 18, 1908. She had four children (three daughters and one son). She enjoyed growing vegetables in the fields over the age of 100, and she moved into the Nursing Home at the age of 108. Having been asked about the secret to her longevity for a public relations magazine in Izunokuni, she replied: “Eat breakfast every morning, eat fruit and yogurt every day, and do gymnastics.” Kahoru suffered from heart disease in 2011 when she was 103 and underwent surgery to implant her pacemaker. She then underwent her first battery replacement surgery in 2015 and a second battery replacement surgery in March 2021 at the age of 113. At the age of 113, she often sits in a wheelchair, but she can stand and walk a little.

Furuya was reported as the oldest living person in Shizuoka Prefecture following the death of 112-year old Hatsue Tachikawa on December 22, 2019. Furuya’s age was verified by Kengo Hirai, Yu Li, Yumi Yamamoto and MHLW, Japan, and validated by the GRG on December 20, 2021. At the time, Kahoru Furuya resided in Izunokuni City, Shizuoka Prefecture.


Hide Hamabe, 114

Hide Hamabe in her 70s.
Hide Hamabe, 70

Hide Hamabe at age 100.
Hide Hamabe, 100

Hide Hamabe at age 111.
Hide Hamabe, 111

Hide Hamabe at age 113.
Hide Hamabe, 113
The pictures were sourced from www.city.ebino.lg.jp, and by the courtesy of Yumi Yamamoto, GRG-Japan Correspondent.

Nov. 2, 2022; Hide Hamabe was born in Ebino, Miyazaki Prefecture, Japan on 3 December 1908. During her high school days, Hamabe was doing well academically, and she was especially good at English. She was supposed to go to a national university in Nara Prefecture as a special student, but she declined due to various reasons, and she married Seizo Hamabe, a teacher at a Fisheries University. Due to her husband’s work, she lived in Tottori and Yamaguchi prefectures after her marriage. After her husband died in 1944, Hamabe worked in a station shop, raised four children, and sent them all to university. She moved to her hometown of Ebino, Miyazaki in 1957 after all her children had gone to university. After she returned home, she ran a small shop and lived alone.

When Hamabe was about 70, she hiked the Ebino high plateau with her granddaughter. Hide climbed the mountain with less effort than her granddaughter, who was in college at the time, and amazed her granddaughter with the strength of her legs and her stamina. Her hobby is a Japanese karuta game called “Hyakunin Isshu”. Around the age of 90, she was strong enough to compete in its national tournament. She was full of intellectual curiosity, and at the age of 110, she could intuitively scroll through a smartphone screen and perform simple operations. At the age of 103, she moved to a nursing home.

In September 2019, Hamabe was reported as the second-oldest known living person in Miyazaki Prefecture, after Tame Yamaguchi of Hyuga. Following the death of 113-year-old Tame Yamaguchi on 6 September 2020, Hamabe was reported to be the oldest known living person in Miyazaki Prefecture. Hamabe’s age was verified by Japan’s MHLW, Yumi Yamamoto, Sachiko Hamabe, and Yu Li, and validated by the GRG on 5 November 2022.

Hide Hamabe passed away on Jan. 10, 2023 at the age of 114. At the time she was the fifth-oldest validated living person in Japan, after Fusa Tatsumi, Tomiko Itooka, Kimiko Ono, and Yasue Okai.


Miyo Hatakeyama, 112

Miyo Hatakeyama at age 109.
Miyo Hatakeyama, 109

Miyo Hatakeyama at age 110.
Miyo Hatakeyama, 110

Miyo Hatakeyama at age 112.
Miyo Hatakeyama, 112
The pictures were sourced from www.akita-kouraku.jp, www.city.kitaakita.akita.jp, and by the courtesy of Yumi Yamamoto, GRG-Japan Correspondent.

Mar. 22, 2020; Miyo Hatakeyama was born as the second daughter of six siblings in Tsuzuriko, Akita Prefecture, Japan on March 4, 1908. She married Takeji Hatakeyama. The couple had two children. She engaged in chopping trees and agriculture. She lived independently until she was aged 102. Then, she received long-term care at home and in 2016 she moved to Morizumiso care home. At the time of her 110th birthday, she slept a lot; however, she would sometimes sit in her bed and communicate with others.

Following the death of 110-year-old Hatsu Sato on November 2, 2016, Hatakeyama became the oldest living person in Akita Prefecture. She celebrated her 110th birthday in March 2018, becoming Akita Prefecture’s only living supercentenarian at the time. Hatakeyama’s age was verified by Takeo Inishie, Yumi Yamamoto and MHLW, Japan, and validated by the GRG on March 22, 2020. In Mar. 2020, Hatakeyama celebrated her 112th birthday and was among the oldest living people in Japan.

Miyo Hatakeyama died in Kitaakita, Akita Prefecture, Japan on August 5, 2020, at the age of 112 years, 154 days. Following her death, Mitsuno Sato (b. Apr. 9, 1909) became the oldest living person in Akita Prefecture.


Fumi Hoshino, 113

Fumi Hoshino on her 106th birthday.
Fumi Hoshino, 106

Fumi Hoshino at age 110.
Fumi Hoshino, 110

Fumi Hoshino at age 111.
Fumi Hoshino, 111

Fumi Hoshino at age 112.
Fumi Hoshino, 112

Fumi Hoshino on her 113th birthday.
Fumi Hoshino, 113

Photo courtesy Yumi Yamamoto, GRG-Japan Correspondent.

August 25, 2022; Fumi Hoshino Fumi Hoshino was born on October 30, 1908, as the eldest daughter of the chief priest of Zuikoji Temple in Shinjuku, Tokyo, Japan. She had two younger brothers and one younger sister. After graduating from elementary school, Hoshino entered a girls’ high school (currently a middle and high school). In addition, after she graduated from girls’ high school, she went to a teacher training school (currently the university’s education department) and graduated.

Hoshino worked as a home economics teacher at a girls’ high school in Tokyo until she was 60 years old. She was unmarried and had no children. When she was 80 years old, she moved to a nursing home in Edogawa Ward and lived alone until then. Hoshino was a heavy smoker and smoked until about the age of 95, but she had terminal lung cancer and was told by doctors that she had only six months to live, so she quit smoking. After that, she was naturally cured of her cancer. Hoshino’s personality was cheerful. She liked to make people laugh and often told jokes. Her favorite foods were raw tuna, kabayaki eel, and Oronamin C (a carbonated drink), which she ate and drank at the age of 113. Fumi Hoshino died from COVID-19 in Edogawa, Tokyo, Japan on August 23, 2022, at the age of 113 years, 297 days, making her the oldest known victim of the pandemic. At the time of her death, she was the oldest known living person in Tokyo Prefecture, and the fifth-oldest validated living person in Japan, after Fusa Tatsumi, Kahoru Furuya, Tomiko Itooka, and Kimiko Ono. She had been anonymous up until her death. Her age was verified by Japan’s MHLW, Mitsuo Hoshino, Yu Li, and Yumi Yamamoto, and validated by the GRG on 25 August 2022, two days after her death.


Christine Ireland, 113

Undated photo:
Christine Ireland, undated

At age 111:
Christine Ireland, 111
The picture was sourced from https://elcallejero.co

Mar. 4, 2020; Christine Ireland was born in Cumberland County, North Carolina, USA, on January 19, 1908 to Simeon and Hettie (Williams) Adams. She was the oldest of eight children. Her parents raised her and her siblings on a farm in Cumberland County, where they worked apple and peach orchards and raised hogs and chickens. Her son, Harold, recalled a story from his grandmother, that his grandfather listed his race as white on land documents in order to protect his assets, because for a black man to own so much land during the 1860s was unheard of. Ireland attended high school at a Immanu Lutheran High School in Greensboro, and became a teacher in 1931. She married William Ireland in 1932 and they settled in Greensboro where they raised three boys and three girls. Her husband provided for the family through his job on the railroad and Ireland took the lead in running the household and educating her children. Two of her daughters, Yvonne and Marcela, went on to attend Bennett College and also became teachers. Her husband died in 1983. Ireland learned how to cook when she was seven years old, and would stand on a wooden box in front of the stove to help prepare dinner. “She made sure all her children could read and write before we went to school”, said Harold. “She has always been a strong woman. She had rules and regulations and you were expected to follow them”.

Ireland celebrated her 111th birthday on January 19, 2019. On her anniversary, she received a State issued birthday commemoration, delivered by N.C. Gov. Roy Cooper, as well as a City of Greensboro resolution signed by Mayor Nancy Vaughan and District 1 Council member Sharon Hightower, acknowledging Ireland’s birthday. As of January 2019, she had a younger sister who was 95 years old at time and resided in Fayetteville.

Christine Ireland died in Burlington, North Carolina, USA on August 18, 2021 at the age of 113 years, 211 days. She was believed to be one of the 10 oldest living Americans at the time of her death. She resided at Alamance House, a nursing facility in Burlington.


Tomiko Itooka, 114

Tomiko Itooka at age 94.
Tomiko Itooka, 96

Tomiko Itooka at age 100.
Tomiko Itooka, 100

Tomiko Itooka at age 113.
Tomiko Itooka, 113

Photo courtesy of Yumi Yamamoto, GRG-Japan Correspondent.

Feb. 8, 2022; Tomiko Itooka was born in Osaka City, Osaka Prefecture, Japan on May 23, 1908 as the second (eldest daughter) of three siblings. After graduating from elementary school, she went on to girls school (currently Osaka Jogakuin Junior and Senior High School) and belonged to the volleyball club. After graduating from girls school, she got married around the age of 20 and gave birth to her eldest daughter at the age of 21. She had two daughters and two sons. During the war, she replaced her husband who ran a textile factory in South Korea, and she alone took care a Japanese office and raised her children. After her husband died in 1979, she lived alone in her husband’s hometown of Nara Prefecture for about 10 years. During that period, she frequently enjoyed climbing Mt. Nijo, which straddles Nara and Osaka prefectures. She also climbed Mt. Ontake (3000m above sea level) in Nagano prefecture twice. The guide was surprised when she climbed the mountain as she wore ordinary sneakers instead of hiking shoes. In her 80s, Itooka participated in the Osaka 33 Kannon Pilgrimage (33 temple pilgrimages) twice. When she was 100 years old, she climbed the long stone steps of Ashiya Shrine without a cane and worshiped. She visited Yakushiji Temple in Nara Prefecture many times, and she liked to write sutras. In May 2018, she celebrated her 110th birthday. In September 2020, Itooka was listed as the third-oldest living person in Hyogo Prefecture, after Hama Yasukawa of Takarazuka and the 114-year-old anonymous woman of Miki. Following the death of a 115-year-old anonymous resident of Miki on April 30, 2022, Itooka became the oldest living person in Hyogo Prefecture, Japan. Her age was verified by Japan’s MHLW, Hiroshi Kai, Yu Li, and Yumi Yamamoto, and validated by the GRG on May 21, 2022.

At the time of her 114th bithday, Itooka lived in Ashiya, Hyogo Prefecture, Japan.


Stella Lennox, 112

As a young girl:
Stella Lennox, young

At age 16 and an a young adult, nurse.
Stella Lennox, nurse

Stella Lennox with her future husband.
Stella Lennox, husband

On her 107th birthday:
Stella Lennox, 107

On her 109th birthday:
Stella Lennox, 109

On her 110th birthday:
Stella Lennox, 110

On her 111th and 112th birthday:
Stella Lennox, 111
The pictures were sourced from Rockford Register Star.

Mar. 10, 2020; Stella Lennox was born in Aneta, North Dakota, USA, on January 31, 1908. She was the oldest of six children born to Henry and Caroline (nee Lang) Haraldson, who were of Swedish and Norwegian heritage. Her father opened the first car dealership in the area and was the town mayor for a time. Her family were reportedly the first in town to have a radio, and would host neighbours on Saturday nights to listen. As a teenager, Lennox attended St. Luke’s Hospital in Fargo, North Dakota, for a three-year nurse’s training course. She graduated in 1930 and found a job as a teller at a bank for $50 a week. When residents of her town discovered that she was a trained nurse, they would come to the bank to ask for medical advice. She was sometimes summoned to tend to patients out in the country, and once had to deliver a woman’s baby by herself. Lennox later moved to Chicago, Illinois, where she met her husband, Hugh. The couple married on June 19, 1932, and had two children, Willia and Jerry. Lennox received a certification in surgery assistance at Michael Reese Hospital, and in 1942, started working at Cook County Hospital, where she remained before retiring in 1969. She was also a Salvation Army volunteer for around 70 years.

After her husband died in 1986, Lennox continued to live in Chicago until she was 101, when she moved to Rockford, Illinois, to live with her granddaughter. On March 6, 2017, Lennox and her granddaughter were fortunate to escape alive after an electric blanket in their home caught fire at 4am. Lennox received minor burns but was able to recover in hospital. She said that she probably would not have survived the fire had the smoke alarm batteries not been changed the week before. In October 2017, Lennox moved into a rehabilitation center in Rockford, Illinois.

Stella Lennox died on December 6, 2020 at the age of 112 years, 310 days. At the time of her death, she had seven grandchildren (two of whom predeceased her), 16 great-grandchildren, and 17 great-great-grandchildren. She was the oldest living resident of Illinois.


Haru Murai, 112

Haru Murai on her 106th birthday.
Haru Murai, 106

Haru Murai on her 108th birthday.
Haru Murai, 108

Haru Murai on her 110th birthday.
Haru Murai, 110

Photo courtesy of Chunichi Web (Toyama Prefecture media) and Yumi Yamamoto, GRG-Japan Correspondent.

Mar. 28, 2020; Haru Murai was born in Hebita, Uozu City, Toyama Prefecture, Japan, on March 8, 1908. Haru married a farmer, and raised three sons and three daughters while engaging in farm work. Murai became the oldest living person in Uozu City when she was 104 years and 11 months old, and she became the oldest living person in Toyama Prefecture following the death of Toki Araki on June 9, 2017. When she was 110 years old, she had about 50 descendants. Reportedly, she liked beans, taro and dried fish, and she loved pigeon barley tea and coffee.

Haru Murai died in Uozu City, Toyama Prefecture, Japan, on July 26, 2020, at the age of 112 years, 140 days.


Yasue Okai, 114

Yasue Okai in her 50ties.
Yasue Okai, 50

Yasue Okai at age 97 (left), with her older sister.
Yasue Okai, 97

Yasue Okai on her 100th birthday.
Yasue Okai, 100

Yasue Okai on her 107th birthday.
Yasue Okai, 107

Yasue Okai at age 109; one month prior to her 110th birthday.
Yasue Okai, 109

Yasue Okai on her 110th birthday.
Yasue Okai, 110

Photo courtesy of Yumi Yamamoto, GRG-Japan Correspondent.

Oct. 18, 2022; Yasue Okai Yasue Okai was born on 25 November 1908 in Osaka Prefecture, Japan. After her marriage, she ran a button shop in Higashiosaka together with her husband Heizaburo. She had a bright and sociable personality, and she was active as a PTA officer at her children’s school. She was also the female head of temples and community events. Okai was a good cook, so when she was at home, it was her pleasure to serve homemade sushi rolls and oden to her family and neighbors. Until the age of 105, she was well enough to walk around the neighborhood using a walker. There has been a history of longevity in Okai’s family. Two or three of her sisters lived well into their 90s and 100s.

In November 2018, Okai celebrated her 110th birthday and became a supercentenarian. Okai’s age was verified by Japan’s MHLW, Nobue Yoshida, Yu Li, and Yumi Yamamoto. At the time of her 114th birthday, she lived at a nursing home in Higashiosaka City, Osaka Prefecture, Japan. She was then the fifth-oldest validated living person in Japan, after Fusa Tatsumi, Kahoru Furuya, Tomiko Itooka, and Kimiko Ono, as well as the third-oldest validated living person in Osaka Prefecture, after Tatsumi and Ono.


Hazel Plummer, 114

Hazel Plummer on her 110th birthday.
Hazel Plummer, 110

Hazel Plummer on her 112th birthday.
Hazel Plummer, 112

Photo courtesy of Hazel Plummer family and Robert Young.

June 26, 2022; Hazel Plummer was born in was born in Somerville, Massachusetts, USA, on June 19, 1908 to Harry and Margaret (Allison) Downs. She had one older sister, Grace, and two older brothers, Elmer and George. Plummer grew up a street apart from her future husband, Elmer, although they didn’t know it at the time. The two married in 1935 and had two children, Roger and David. After the eighth grade, Plummer went to trade school to become a seamstress. She went to work for an upscale designer on Newbury Street in Boston, Massachusetts. After marrying, she raised her children while her husband worked at a steel company and then in the children’s department of a department store. The family moved to Littleton, Massachusetts in 1957, where Plummer has lived since. After Plummer’s father died suddenly at the age of 74, her mother lived with the family for 22 years until passing away at the age of 94. After her husband’s death in January 2000, Plummer spent 17 years living in her own second-floor apartment before moving to a nursing home in Littleton, Massachusetts, when she was 109. At the time of her 110th birthday in June 2018, Plummer had six grandchildren and four great-grandchildren. Plummer became the oldest known living person in the state of Massachusetts following the death of 112-year-old Dorothy Brown on November 26, 2019. In January 2020, her nursing home celebrated her achievement with a special party, and she also received a message from Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker. On December 30, 2020, at the age of 112, Plummer received her first dose of the Pfizer/BionTech vaccine, making her one of the oldest known people to receive the COVID-19 vaccine. In June 2022, she turned 114.

As of June 2022, Hazel Plummer was the fourth-oldest validated living person in the United States, behind Bessie Hendricks, Edie Ceccarelli, and Erna Zahn, and the fifth-oldest validated living American-born person, behind Maria Branyas Morera, Hendricks, Ceccarelli, and Zahn. She is also the second-oldest validated person ever from the U.S. state of Massachusetts, behind Bernice Madigan (1899-2015).


Edna Runyon, 112

As a young woman:
Edna Runyon, young

As an older woman:
Edna Runyon, older

On her 110th birthday:
Edna Runyon, 110

On her 111th birthday:
Edna Runyon, 111
The picture was sourced from https://elcallejero.co

Feb. 27, 2020; Edna Runyon was born in Willisville, Arkansas, USA, on January 25, 1908. Her parents were Alfred and Alice McKinney. She had five siblings. She married Emer Runyon (1905-1986), with whom had eight or nine children (sources vary). The couple were married for over 50 years. In 2015, at the age of 107, Runyon received a letter from President Barack Obama.


Ai Suganoya, 113

Ai Suganoya on her 100th birthday.
Ai Suganoya, 100

Ai Suganoya on her 103th birthday.
Ai Suganoya, 103

Ai Suganoya on her 105th birthday.
Ai Suganoya, 105

Ai Suganoya on her 107th birthday.
Ai Suganoya, 107

Ai Suganoya on her 110th birthday.
Ai Suganoya, 110

Photo courtesy of Yumi Yamamoto, GRG-Japan Correspondent.

Feb. 8, 2022; Ai Suganoya was born on May 10, 1908 in Nagai City, Yamagata Prefecture, Japan, the sixth of eight siblings. She graduated from Yamagata Prefectural Nagai Girls’ High School in 1927, and at the age of 26 in 1934 she married a dentist from the same Yamagata prefecture. She had no children and her husband died of tuberculosis five years after her marriage. During the war, Ai Suganoya, a widow, was mobilized by the captain of the Women’s Volunteer Corps and worked as a captain at a munitions factory in Osaka City. Since the end of the war, she had been active as a writer, serializing novels in newspapers, but since she was 45 years old in 1953, she became a calligrapher. She traveled to Italy at the ages of 90 and 94. At the age of 100, she volunteered to teach calligraphy at the Nursing Home twice a month. All the students were people with dementia. Even when she was 100 years old, she had many challenges and enjoyed her life. She lived alone in her home at the age of 110. She likes beef, pork, eels, sweets and liquor, and when she was 110 she still cooked her own meal.


Robert Weighton, 112

Robert Weighton on his 108th birthday.
Robert Weighton, 108

Robert Weighton on his 110th birthday.
Robert Weighton, 110

Robert Weighton on his 111th birthday.
Robert Weighton, 111

Robert Weighton on his 112th birthday.
Robert Weighton, 112

Robert Weighton holding the Guinness World Records’ cetificate for the World’s Oldest Man.
Robert Weighton, 112

Photo courtesy of Guinness World Records.

Apr. 3, 2020; Robert Weighton Weighton was born in Kingston-upon-Hull, Yorkshire, England, UK on March 29, 1908. He was one of seven children. At the time he was 16, he took marine engineering apprenticeship. After qualifying, Weighton decided to work abroad as a teacher. He moved to Taiwan in 1933 to teach at a missionary school, but first had to spend two years in Japan learning the language. In 1937, Robert Weighton married Agnes, a teacher he had known since they studied together in England. After marrying in Hong Kong, they returned to Taiwan, where their first child, David, was born. The family decided to return to England in 1939, but were diverted to Toronto, Canada, due to the onset of the Second World War. While in Canada, the couple had two more children: Peter, and Dorothy. Weighton later moved with his family to the United States, where he worked in a factory that made aeroplanes for Britain to help them fight the war. His knowledge of Japanese meant that he went on to work for the British Political Warfare Mission, and helped to decipher enemy messages during America’s battle with Japan. In 1946, Weighton returned to England with his family, where he met his parents in-law for the first time. He took up a teaching position at City University, London, and spent the rest of his working career as a lecturer in marine engineering.

After retiring, Weighton and his wife moved to Alton, Hampshire, England in 1973. Around 1990, he had to undergo an operation to remove a growth on his stomach. Agnes died in 1995, and their son, Peter, died in 2014. After his wife’s death, Weighton moved in to a flat in an Alton care home, where he lived independently. The second bedroom in his flat was a workshop filled with furniture, windmills, and puzzles he made and sold in aid of charity, often from bits of wood pulled from skips. He also sold self-published poetry books and raised almost £900 for Brendoncare, the charity that operated his care home. As of March 2019, shortly before his 111th birthday, Weighton was still able to do his own shopping. In June 2019, he was interviewed by BBC Radio 4, in which he talked about his life. He also accompanied a community fundraising team on visits to local schools to talk in assemblies about his life.

In March 2020, Weighton was forced to cancel his 112th birthday celebration due to the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. As a result of social distancing rules, he was also unable to receive a personal visit from a Guinness World Records official to be recognised as the World’s Oldest Man. Instead, his care home arranged for him to be presented with a certificate by staff on his balcony. Earlier on the same day, he was interviewed live on breakfast television programme Good Morning Britain.

Robert Weighton died from cancer on May 28, 2020, at the age of 112 years, 60 days. At the time of his death, he had 10 grandchildren, and 25 great-grandchildren. Prior to his funeral on June 19, 2020, the hearse drove slowly through the town of Alton and past the care home where he lived so residents could pay their respects.

Weighton became the oldest living man in England, following the death of John Mansfield on November 27, 2016. At the same time, he also became the joint-oldest living man in the whole of the United Kingdom, along with Alf Smith of Perth, Scotland. Weighton held this title on his own after Smith’s death on August 4, 2019. Following the death of 111-year-old Hilda Clulow on December 24, 2019, Weighton became the oldest living person in the United Kingdom, a title he shared jointly with Joan Hocquard of Poole, England. He was the first man to hold this title since James Harrow in 1976. Weighton is currently the second-oldest man ever from England, behind Henry Allingham, and the third-oldest man ever from the United Kingdom, behind Allingham, and John Evans of Wales.

Weighton was believed to have become the oldest living man in Europe following the death of 114-year-old Gustav Gerneth of Germany on October 21, 2019, although Gerneth’s age remains unvalidated as of the present day. Following the death of Chitetsu Watanabe on February 23, 2020, Weighton became a candidate for the oldest living man in the world. He was officially recognised as the world’s oldest man by Guinness World Records on March 30, 2020, the day after his 112th birthday. He was the first British man to hold this title since Henry Allingham (1896-2009).

Robert Weighton’s age was veified by GRG-Correspondent Waclaw Jan Kroczek and Guinness World Records and validated by the GRG on Apr. 3, 2020.


Nahi Yonamine, 113

Nahi Yonamine, aged 75 in 1983, with her husband Fukusei.
Nahi Yonamine, 1983

On her 110th birthday, Mar. 9, 2018
Nahi Yonamine, 110

Nahi Yonamine during the September 2018 Respect for the Aged day:
Nahi Yonamine, 110

April 28, 2018; A commemorative photo celebrating Nahi’s 110th birthday and her second daughter Toyo’s 87th birthday.
Nahi Yonamine, 110
The picture was sourced from www.pref.okinawa.jp and by the courtesy of Nahi Yonamine’s family, and Yumi Yamamoto, GRG-Japan Correspondent.

Sept. 20, 2021; Nahi Yonamine was born on March 9, 1908 in Naha City, Okinawa Prefecture, Japan, as the second of four siblings. She had one older brother and two younger brothers. At the age of 15, she married Fukusei Yonamine, seven years her senior, on Kume Island. After marriage, she gave birth to her eldest daughter at the age of 15 and her eighth child at the age of 41. She started her business at the age of 25, carrying vegetables and livestock from Kumejima to the main island of Okinawa and selling them in carriages. When she was 90, she moved to Kitanakagusuku Village on the main island of Okinawa, and when she was 96, she moved into the nursing home “Ai no Mura”. She has no major medical or injured history, and she has also been in business for a long time, so she has a sociable and cheerful personality. Five of her eight children are currently alive. Nahi was officially recognized as the second oldest living person in Okinawa Prefecture in September 2021. Her photos and bios were provided by Nursing Home Ai no Mura and her third son, Hiroshi Yonamine, by the cooperation with Yumi Yamamoto, GRG-Japan Correspondent.


Erna Zahn, 113

Erna Zahn on her graduation day.
Erna Zahn, graduation

Erna Zahn, right, visiting Mount Rushmore with a friend in July 1934. George Washington’s head was the only completed portion of the monument at the time.
Erna Zahn, Rushmore

Erna Zahn’s marriage photo (1935)
Erna Zahn, Marriage

Erna Zahn shortly before her 110th birthday.
Erna Zahn, 109

Erna Zahn on her 110th birthday.
Erna Zahn, 110

Erna Zahn at age 111.
Erna Zahn, 111

Erna Zahn shortly prior to her 112th birthday
Erna Zahn, 112

Erna Zahn on her actual 112th birthday.
Erna Zahn, 112

Erna Zahn on her 113th birthday.
Erna Zahn, 113
Erna Zahn, 113
Photos sourced from The Journal, Minnesota.

January 8, 2022; Erna Zahn was born in Winnebago County, Wisconsin, USA, on April 14, 1908 to Henry and Olga (nee Kloehn) Miller. She had one older brother, Herbert and two younger sisters, Adeline and Marjorie. As a young girl, she enjoyed horseback riding, often on Sunday afternoons, sewing and swimming. Some of her favorite historical moments she’s had include riding in the rumble seat of a car from home to Mount Rushmore, while it was still under construction. She married Meilahn Zahn in 1935. He was later the head of the Martin Luther College music department from 1962 to 1975. The couple had six children, four sons and two daughters. Meilahn Zahn passed away in 1982. Longevity runs in her family: Erna Zahn’s mother died at the age of 95 and both her sisters died at the age of 97.

At the time of her 110th birthday, Zahn resided at the Oak Hills Living Center in New Ulm, Minnesota. She became the oldest known person living in Minnesota following the death of 112 year-old Evelyn Kleine on December 7, 2019. On June 13, 2021, at the age of 113 years, 60 days, Zahn surpassed the age of Bertha Harris to become the oldest person born in the state of Wisconsin.

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