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115-Year-Old French Woman Dies
A 115-year-old French woman, believed to be the world's oldest person, died Wednesday, ending a journey through life that spanned three centuries.
Marie Bremont died in her sleep at 2:15 a.m. at a retirement home where she lived in Cande, 150 miles west of Paris, said her nephew, Georges Crespin, one of two surviving family members.
At Bremont's 115th birthday on April 25, she dressed up in a red suit and shared strawberry cake and a glass of white wine with friends at the retirement home. She listened as three girls ¡ª each born almost exactly a century after Bremont ¡ª recited a poem written by staff members of the home.
Bremont's sight and hearing had deteriorated, but home director Joseph Foucher said she told him after the party that she was ``proud to be the doyenne of humanity.''
She was considered the world's oldest person since the death of Eva Morris of Britain in November, just four days before her 115th birthday.
Bremont is the second French woman to hold the honor. Jeanne Calment of France, died Aug. 4, 1997, at age 122.
Bremont was born in 1886 in the village of Noellet in western France.
Elizabeth Israel, who lives on the Caribbean island of Dominica, is considered there as the world's oldest living person. She celebrated her 126th birthday in January, according to officials there. The Guinness Book of World Records is investigating that claim
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