Eunice Sanborn of Jacksonville, Texas, died gently in her home on Monday, the research group said.
Eunice Sanborn was born July 20, 1896, in Lake Charles, Louisiana, according to the Gerontology Research Group, which said it based her birth date and age conventionally on census records from the time. Her obituary in the Jacksonville Daily Progress had her even older, however, with the obituary citing a birth date of July 20, 1895.
Eunice Sanborn, who was 7 years old when the Wright Brothers made their famous first powered flight in 1903, outlived three husbands, according to the obituary. In her 90s and even beyond her 100th birthday, she would joke with men that she was scouting for her fourth, according to the Jacksonville, Texas, Daily Progress. Eunice Sanborn's only child, a daughter, died in 2005 at the age of 90.
When Eunice Sanborn was born, the Civil War was history but just by 30 years. When she was 4 months old, William McKinley beaten William Jennings Bryan for the presidency of the United States.
The United States would enter World War I when she was 21, in 1917. By then she had been married for four years, according to Robert Young with the Gerontology Research Group.
Young, a senior claims associate with the global Gerontology Research Group and a senior consultant for Guinness World Records, said Sanborn had one of three strong predictors of longevity on her side she was born female. According to the GRG, there are 85 "super centenarians" in the world people with verified ages of 110 or older. Of those, 80 are women and only five are men. Young calls this the "female advantage."
Although some factors of long life lie within our control, L. Stephen Coles, GRG supervisory director, said much of what determines how long a person lives is programmed in the genes at birth. He noted that those with long lives tracked by his organization have relatives who have lived long lives, too.
"Even if you have everything going for you, if you don't have good genes from your parents then you won't be able to get to be a super centenarian," he said.
With Eunice Sanborn's death, the "oldest living person" designation goes to Besse Cooper of Monroe, Georgia, according to the GRG. Like Eunice Sanborn, she was born in 1896, but after Eunice Sanborn.
On August 26, she will commemorate her 115th birthday.
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