Johanna Adonis | |
Johanna Adonis on her 110th birthday in 2017 | |
Validated |
Johanna "Annie" Adonis (5 August 1907 – 1 February 2019) was a South African supercentenarian whose age was validated by the Gerontology Research Group (GRG) in 2023. She was the oldest known person in South Africa at the time of her death.
Biography[]
Johanna Adonis was born in Greyton, Western Cape, South Africa on 5 August 1907. She moved to Cape Town when she was 16, and when she was 19, she met her future husband, Edward Adonis, while working as a domestic worker in Sea Point, Cape Town. They married in around 1929 and moved to Athlone, Cape Town the following year.
Edward sadly died in 1953 after nearly 25 years of marriage. The couple never had any children together, but Johanna helped raise her extended family’s children after his death. Adonis lived alone in her flat after her husband’s death until she was 92 years old, when her family convinced her to move in with her niece. She was one of the six founders of the Anglican Women’s Fellowship (AWF) at St George’s Church in Cape Town.
By her 109th birthday in 2016, Adonis had problems with short-term memory loss and her legs not being as strong as they used to be, but she was still able to have a laugh with her family. On her 110th birthday in 2017, many people, including her family and the local priest, came to wish her a happy birthday.
Adonis died on 1 February 2019 in Sea Point, Cape Town, Western Cape, South Africa, at the age of 111 years, 180 days.
References[]
- Milestone IOL
- 110th Birthday Post #1 Facebook
- 110th Birthday Post #2 Facebook
- 111th Birthday Post Facebook
- Auntie Annie, 111, dies Athlone News