Yam a Day: Oldest Person in US Is 113

Lessie Brown lives in the suburbs of Cleveland
By Newser Editors and Wire Services
Posted May 14, 2018 7:00 AM CDT
Yam a Day: Oldest Person in US Is 113
In this May 11, 2018 frame from video, photos of Lessie Brown rest on a chair in Cleveland Heights, Ohio. She is believed to be the oldest person in the United States after the death of a 114-year-old Pennsylvania woman.   (David Petkiewicz/The Plain Dealer via AP)

A 113-year-old woman living in suburban Cleveland is believed to be the oldest person in the United States after the death of a 114-year-old Pennsylvania woman. The 88-year-old daughter of Lessie Brown says her mother remarked, "that's good" when told Friday she had become the country's oldest person, reports Cleveland.com. Brown was born in 1904 in Atlanta and moved to Cleveland when she was 18. She married and had five children, three of whom are still living. The Cleveland Heights resident has more than 50 grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and great-great grandchildren. Family members attributed Brown's long life to her eating a yam every day until she was 110, per the AP. Delphine Gibson was 114 when she died Wednesday in Huntingdon, Pa. (More oldest person stories.)

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