World's oldest person dies at 118 after surviving World War I and Covid pandemic

17 January 2023 , 22:41

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World's oldest person dies at 118 after surviving World War I and Covid pandemic

The world's oldest person, a nun said to be 118, has died in her nursing home.

French nun Lucile Randon, also known as Sister André, was born in 1904 and took on the title of world's oldest person last year following the death of Kane Tanaka from Japan last year at 119.

A born survivor, she lived through the Spanish flu pandemic in 1918 and in 2021 she shrugged off Covid with few symptoms, despite the when the virus killing ten residents at her nursing home in southern France, saying "I wasn’t scared because I wasn’t scared to die."

Spokesman David Tavella said: “There is great sadness but … it was her desire to join her beloved brother.

"For her, it’s a liberation."

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Sister Andre had been living in the care home since 2009 (AFP via Getty Images)

Born in the French town of Ales to Protestant parents, Sister André was raised alongside her two brothers but the family was separated when they went off to fight in the First World War.

Both brothers went on to survive the fighting.

She converted to Catholicism when she was 19 years old and became a nun eight years later, choosing the name Sister André in honour of one of her brothers who had passed away.

In her younger years, Sister André worked as a teacher and a governess, and spend much of the Second World War looking after children.

(AFP via Getty Images)

When the war ended, she travelled to Vichy to work in a hospital where she spent 28 years supporting orphans and the elderly and moved into a nursing home in 1979.

Her last days were spent praying, enjoying mealtimes and visits from residents and hospice workers, although care home workers revealed she enjoyed a glass of wine and chocolates every day.

Mrs Tanaka - the previous owner of the title of world's oldest person had been born on January 2, 1903 - the year of the Wright Brothers' first controlled flight of their motor-driven airplane.

Sister André in her French nursing home (AFP via Getty Images)

When she died last year Sister André described taking the title as a "sad honour".

She added at the time: "I feel I would be better off in heaven, but the good Lord doesn't want me yet."

Sister André also owned the world record for oldest living nun, as well as the world's oldest Covid survivor.

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The oldest person ever was 122-year-old Jeanne Calment, also from France, who lived from 1875 to 1997.

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