The Five Oldest People in the World

Today, Bernice Madigan died peacefully at her home in Massachusetts. She was 115 years and 163 days old, which made her the fourth-oldest person in the world before her death. Madigan’s death leaves only five people in the world documented to have been born before the 20th century. They are, from left to right:

Misao Okawa, born March 5, 1898, Japanese
Gertrude Weaver, born July 4, 1898, American
Jeralean Talley, born May 23, 1899, American
Susannah Mushatt-Jones, born July 6 1899, American
Emma Morano-Martinuzzi, born November 29, 1899, Italian

When these five women were born, there were no airplanes. They may have talked to their friends about the sinking of the Titanic. They lived through two World Wars, the women’s suffrage movement, Prohibition, the Civil Rights Era, and the beginning and end of the Soviet Union.