Meet the New World’s Newest Oldest Person Alive
She was an infant when Teddy Roosevelt was sworn into office as President of the United States. She was a toddler for the first-ever World Series and a child when the Ford Model T first entered the marketplace. When she turned 13, Arizona became the 48th state, and by age 18 the world was at war for the first time. At 116 years old, she’s been alive for nearly half as long as the United States of America has.
Photo Credit | Guinness World Records
Her name is Susannah Mushatt Jones, and on June 17, 2015, she became the New World’s newest oldest living person. Jones, who’s grandparents were slaves in pre-emancipated America, is now one of only two living persons born in the 19th century – and one of 40 supercentenarians (people over 110 years old).
Despite having lost her vision due to glaucoma, her doctors say Jones has a nearly perfect bill of health.
Does she take a lot of medications? Nope. Jones only takes two pills daily: one for her blood pressure, and the other a multivitamin. According to DailyMail, Jones claims to have never smoked nor drank. She doesn’t work – she actually retired in 1965. Her secret? Plenty of shut-eye – 10 hours a night, according to her. But her family argues that Jones’ longevity is due to her diet – bacon, eggs and grits every morning and either spareribs, chicken, fish, lamb or duck with a serving of vegetables for lunch.
“That’s what’s keeping her going,” said Jones’ niece Dr. Lavilla Mushatt Watson. “Her appetite and the love from her family.”
Her appetite, love from her family, and the fondness she harbors for sporting her favorite risqué nightwear, no matter the time of day. “You can never get too old to wear fancy stuff,” Jones told TIME when asked about her laced-up lingerie.
As it turns out, Jones isn’t exactly out of the ordinary. A study on centenarians conducted by the Boston School of Medicine-New England claims that after breaching age 100, an astonishing 69% of supercentenarians show no signs of age-related diseases such as heart disease, dementia and stroke.
But Jones’ longevity could also be attributed to genetics. After all, her own grandmother lived to be 117 years old.