A Nun at Rest and at Peace

 

by Pa Rock

Septuagenarian

I read somewhere recently that as the average lifespan grows longer, it is possible that the first person to live to be one-hundred-and-fifty may have already been born.  (I am fairly certain that person is not me.)

Last Tuesday the world's oldest person, Sister Andre of Toulon, France, passed away at the age 118 years and 340 days, less than a month before her 119th birthday.  Sister Andre had been born in France as Lucille Random on February 11th, 1904.  She had been recognized as the planet's oldest human since the death of another woman, Kane Tanaka, who passed away in her native Japan at the age of 119 in April of 2022.

Sister Andre, who died this past Tuesday, looked after children during World War II, and then spent nearly thirty years taking care of orphans and elderly people at a French hospital.  At the time of her passing she was the oldest known nun to have ever lived, and the world's oldest COVID survivor, having tested positive for the disease a few weeks before her 117th birthday in 2021.

The oldest person whose birth and death are a matter of public record was also a French woman, Jeanne Louise Calment, who was born on February 21, 1875, and lived to the ripe old age of 122 years and 164 days.

With the passing of Sister Andre, the title of world's oldest human shifts to another woman, Maria Branyas Morera of Spain, who was 115 and 320 days old on last Wednesday.

Current research places the United States 45th in the world with regard to human longevity.  A male child born today in the Chinese Special Administrative Region of Hong Kong can expect to live to be 82.9 years of age, and a female born in Hong Kong can expect to travel around the sun eighty-eight complete cycles.  In the United States that figure is 74.5 years for men and 80.2 years for women.  In addition to gender, race and educational level also seem to be important indicators in how long a person will live.

Research indicates that only one in five thousand people in the United States currently live to be centenarians (age 100), and eighty-five percent of those are women.  Scientists believe that part of the reason women live longer than men is that the estrogen levels in their blood combat conditions such as heart disease by helping to reduce circulatory levels of harmful cholesterol.   It is also commonly believed that women have stronger immune systems than men.

Whatever biological factors and medical advancements led to Sister Andre's long life, she certainly honored her time on the planet by doing good works.   Thank you, Sister Andre, for choosing to spend your time in the service of others.  Be at rest and at peace.