| Marie-Louise Meilleur | |
 Marie-Louise Meilleur aged 116 | |
| Birth: | 29 August 1880 Kamouraska, Québec, Canada |
| Death: | 16 April 1998 East Ferris, Ontario, Canada |
| Age: | 117 years, 230 days |
| Country: |  CAN
|
| Validated | |
Marie-Louise Meilleur (née Chasse; 29 August 1880 – 16 April 1998) is the verified Canadian longevity record holder. After the death of Jeanne Calment, Marie-Louise became the oldest living person in the world. Marie-Louise is currently ranked as the 6th-oldest validated person of all-time.
History
Marie-Louise Febronie Chasse was born in Kamouraska, Quebec, in 1880, to fisherman parents. According to her family, she had some Native American ancestry.[1] At the age of 20, she married Étienne Leclerc, another fisherman of her village.[2] After he, two of her children and both of her parents died in 1911 and 1912, Meilleur left two of her four surviving children in 1913 and moved to the rural Ontario border. Only once, in 1939, did she return to the Quebec area.[3] She married in 1915 Hector Meilleur, a Franco-Ontarian woodcutter, and with him, she had another 6 children. She lived in Deep River. At 107 years old, she left to a nursing home in East Ferris.[4] At the age of 110 Meilleur was still able to walk without assistance.
Marie-Louise lived on a wood house without electricity and hot water until the 1950's. Some sources said that she was vegetarian, but this is not confirmed. Marie-Louise smoked Tobacco until her 90's.
She attributed her longevity to "Hard work, remember the good times of her youth, loved her family, having a good sense of humor and having good faith to God and Mary".
Longevity Records
After Lillian Ross died on 20 March 1993, Marie-Louise became the oldest living person in Canada.
On 26 March 1994 she surpassed the age of Ross to become the oldest Canadian ever.
On 6 September 1994 she became the oldest living person in North America after the death of Wilhelmina Kott aged of 114.
On 12 July 1995 she became the second-oldest person livng in the world after the death of Tane Ikai aged of 116.
Two years later on 4 August 1997, Meilleur became the oldest living person in the world after the death of the oldest person ever, the French woman Jeanne Calment aged of 122. When she get the title Meilleur was exactly 116 years and 340 days, it was oldest age at which anyone has ever gained the title at this time.
On 29 August 1997, she celebrated 117 years old becoming the third person in history to reach this age (after Jeanne Calment and Delphia Welford in 1992).
On 4 November 1997, Meilleur surpassed the age of Welford to become second-oldest person ever (after Calment).
She died on 16 April 1998 at the age of 117 years, 230 days, from a blood clot in East Ferris, Ontario, in Canada. She remains the oldest Canadian ever and the only Canadian to reach 116 and 117. At the time of her death Meilleur was the second-oldest person ever (behind Jeanne Calment who lived 122 years old). Her age has been surpassed only 1 month later, on 13 May 1998 by Sarah Knauss, her successor as the oldest living person in the world who was only 26 days youger[5]. However for almost 20 years, Meilleur managed to sustain her rank as the 3rd-oldest validated person of all time unbroken until Nabi Tajima of Japan surpasses her age on 23 March 2018.
Gallery
References
- ↑ Marie-Louise (Chassé) Meilleur Wordpress
- ↑ Marie-Louise (Chassé) Meilleur Wordpress
- ↑ Marie-Louise Meilleur, 117, And Felicie Cormier, 118 New York Times, 18 April 1998
- ↑ Marie-Louise (Chassé) Meilleur Wordpress
- ↑ Mrs Marie-Louise Fébronie “Memere” Chassé Leclerc Meilleur Find A Grave
| Canada's Oldest Living Person Titleholders (V • E) |
|
Flore Beland • Emma Bingham • Herman Smith-Johannsen • Agnes Munce • Nellie Thompson • Alice Sjoquist • Lillian Ross • Marie-Louise Meilleur • Marie-Louise Meunier • Maria Mallozzi • Zelda McCague • Fanny Martland • Evangeline Saulnier • Anne Samson • Julie Winnefred Bertrand • Jennie Fitzgerald • Margaret Fitzgerald • Pearl Lutzko • Cora Hansen • Yvonne Lamoureux • Merle Barwis • Colombe Benoit-Leclerc • Orma Slack • Marguerite Wabano • Lilian Cornell • Ellen Gibb • Sarah Patenaude-Bruyere • Phyllis Ridgway • Cecile Klein • Shige Mineshiba • Mabel Mah • Helen Doan • Gertruda Gorecka • Hazel Skuce |