Elizabeth Francis, the oldest known living person in America, died at the age of 115 in Texas. LongeviQuest, an organization that tracks the oldest people in the world, confirmed her passing and described her as a Houstonian icon. At the time of her death, Francis was the third-oldest known living person in the world and among the 21st longest-lived people in U.S. history. She had celebrated her 115th birthday in July with a large cake and credited her longevity to her faith in God, speaking her mind, and eating whatever she wanted.
Born in Louisiana in 1909, Francis lived with her daughter Dorothy Williams in Houston before her death. She gave birth to Williams in 1928, raised her as a single mother, and ran a coffee shop for nearly two decades before retiring in 1975. Francis’ sister, Bertha Johnson, lived to be 106, making them one of the oldest sibling pairs.
After Francis’s death, the title of America’s oldest living person went to Naomi Whitehead, born in 1910, while the world’s oldest living person was 116-year-old Tomiko Itooka of Japan. Francis had taken on the title of the oldest living person in the U.S. in February following the death of Edie Ceccarelli. She was known for speaking her mind and not holding her tongue, and her secret to a long life included avoiding smoking and drinking, except for an occasional glass of wine.
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