Oldest Person in US Dies After 114 Years in New Jersey

She never jogged and ate what she liked, son says
By Rob Quinn,  Newser Staff
Posted Feb 10, 2017 2:19 AM CST
Oldest Person in US Dies at 114
Adele Dunlap, then 113, talks with the activities director at Country Arch Care Center in Pittstown, NJ.   (Chris Pedota/The Record via AP, File)

A New Jersey woman born the same year as Charles Lindbergh has died after almost seven months as the oldest person in America. Adele Dunlap, who celebrated her 114th birthday in December, died on Sunday, making 113-year-old Delphine Gibson the oldest person in the US, NJ.com reports. According to the Gerontology Research Center, the oldest American alive is 114-year-old Marie-Josephine Gaudette, a nun who has been living in a convent in Italy since 1958. Dunlap, who was born in Newark in 1902, worked as a teacher before she got married and had three children with her husband, Earl, who died in 1963. She had six grandchildren, 15 great-grandchildren, and three great-great-grandchildren.

After Dunlap became the oldest American resident last year, son Earl Jr. said she "never went out jogging or anything like that," per the AP. "She's not really thin, but she never weighed more than 140 pounds," he said. "She smoked, and when my father had his first heart attack, they both stopped. I think she ate anything she wanted." Staff at the nursing home where she spent the last 15 years of her life say she tended to take years off her age and had most recently been telling people she was 105. The Record reports that at her 114th birthday party, Dunlap said, "Gee, how should I know?" when asked what she was thankful for. When asked if she had a birthday wish, she said: "I've never thought of such a thing. I don't wish for anything." (More oldest American stories.)

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