America's Lizzie Bolden Dies at 116 as World's Oldest Person

American Becomes Oldest Living Person in the World for Second Time

Replaces woman from Ecuador who died days short of 117th birthday

August 29, 2006 – An American woman, Elizabeth "Lizzie" Bolden, has become the oldest living woman and person in the world - for the second time. This time she was given the title as the result of the death on August 27 of Maria Esther Capovilla of Ecuador, who was found to be older than Bolden last December and given the recognition Bolden had held since last August. Read more...

Puerto Rican is Oldest Living Man and Oldest U.S. Veteran

March 2, 2005 – SeniorJournal.com missed the announcement in January that Emiliano Mercado Del Toro of Puerto Rico was named the world’s oldest living man at 113, replacing Fred Hale, who died on Nov. 19, 2004. Del Toro is also the oldest living U.S. veteran, having served two months in the U.S. Army during Word War I. Read more...

Ecuador Grabs Oldest Person Crown from U.S.

Guinness confirms 116 year old as oldest but Chicago woman may be 118

Dec. 20, 2005 – Major changes are occurring in the list of supercenternarians and oldest living people of the world, as a 116 year old woman from Ecuador is given the title of "oldest" by Guinness World Records, displacing American Elizabeth "Lizzie" Bolden, who is just 115. The battle is not over, however, as a woman in Chicago is alleged to be 118. Read more...


	Van Andel-Schipper dies at 115

American Woman Becomes World’s Oldest Living Person

U.S. now holds top three spots on list of oldest people

Aug. 31, 2005 – An American woman, Elizabeth "Lizzie" Bolden, 115 years and 14 days old, has officially become the oldest living person and woman in the world, according to an announcement by the Guinness World Records. The previous title holder, Hendrikje Van Andel-Schipper of the Netherlands, died in her sleep at 2 a.m. yesterday. She was 115 years and 62 days old. Read more...

Fourth Oldest American Dies at 113

M. Gladys Swetland was listed as 9th oldest in the world

Dec. 20, 2005 – M. Gladys Swetland, who celebrated her 113th birthday on April 21, 2005, by playing the piano for family and friends, passed away on December 14 after achieving recognition as the ninth oldest person in the world and the fourth oldest in the U.S. Read more...

Health, United States, 2005

U.S. Has Been Getting Older, But We Haven't Seen Anything, Yet

Starting January 1 a baby boomer will turn 60 every 7.5 seconds

By Tucker Sutherland, editor

Dec. 9, 2005 – On January 1 baby boomers will begin turning 60 at the rate of about one every 7.5 seconds. They will begin to swell the already booming ranks of older Americans. These post-WWII children have long been the focus of America but we have not seen anything yet that will compare with their impact as they begin to draw from Social Security, use Medicare and swamp the healthcare system with the ailments associated with aging. Read more...


	Is he 130?

More People are Living Longer but None Has Reached 123

U.S. leads the world with four oldest people including women and a Puerto Rican man

By Tucker Sutherland, editor

Dec. 3, 2005 – The Yemen Observer reported last week on a man there that claims to be 130 years old. There is apparently no way to verify his age and Saeed Bin Saeed Al-Humri will most likely disappear among many others, particularly from countries that did little years ago to document births, who have claimed to be the oldest living person. Officially, no person has ever celebrated a 123rd birthday. Read more...