Oldest living person in the US celebrates 115th birthday
- Elizabeth Francis is currently the oldest living American at 115 years old
- She's the last remaining American born in the first decade of the 1900s
- Francis is the fourth oldest living person in the world, according to age data
(Getty Images)
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(NewsNation) — The oldest living person in the U.S. turned 115 years old Thursday.
Born in Louisiana on July 25, 1909, Elizabeth Francis is the last remaining American born in the first decade of the 1900s.
The Houston, Texas, native became the oldest living person in the U.S. in February, following the death of 116-year-old Edith “Edie” Ceccarelli in Northern California.
Francis’ granddaughter, Ethel Harrison, told The Washington Post the family plans to celebrate with a floral-covered sheet cake in vanilla cream, her favorite flavor, and that her grandmother can have as many slices as she’d like.
Francis moved to Houston as a child, where she was raised by her aunt. She has one daughter, Dorothy Williams, with whom she shares a home. Francis moved in with her daughter in 1999.
Francis has three grandchildren, five great-grandchildren and four great-great-grandchildren. She’s currently cared for by one of her granddaughters.
Longevity runs in her family, as her sister Bertha Johnson lived to the age of 106 before dying in 2011. Francis and Johnson are among the pair of siblings with the oldest combined age in world history, according to LongeviQuest.
In the Gerontology Research Group’s rankings, Francis is the fourth oldest living person in the world, surpassed by Inah Canabarro Lucas (Brazil, 116), Tomiko Itooka (Japan, 116) and Maria Branyas Morera (Spain, 117).
NewsNation affiliate KTXL contributed to this report.
