Jeanne Calment

Jeanne Louise Calment (February 21, 1875 – August 4, 1997) has the longest confirmed lifespan in history at 122 years and 164 days. Her lifespan has been thoroughly documented by scientific study; more records have been produced to verify her age than for any other case.

Biography

Born in Arles, she was 14 when the Eiffel Tower was completed in 1889, and had an extremely active life, even taking up fencing at age 85, and was still riding a bicycle at age 100. Her brother, François, lived to the age of 97, her father, Nicolas, 93, and her mother, Marguerite, lived to the age of 86.

She married her second cousin, Fernand Calment, in 1896. He died in 1942, four years before their 50th wedding anniversary. She also outlived her daughter, Yvonne, who died in 1934, and her grandson, Frédéric, a medical doctor, who died in 1963 in a motorcycle accident.

Unlucky deal for Raffray

In 1965, aged 90, with no living heirs, Jeanne Calment signed a deal, common in France, to sell her condominium apartment en viager to lawyer François Raffray. Raffray, then aged 47, agreed to pay a monthly sum until she died, an agreement sometimes called a "reverse mortgage". At the time of the deal the value of the apartment was equal to ten years of payments. Unfortunately for Raffray, not only did she survive more than thirty years, but he died first, in December 1995, of cancer, at the age of 77. His widow had to continue the payments.

Recognition

In 1985, Calment moved into a nursing home, having lived on her own until age 110. However, she did not gain international fame until 1988, when the centenary of Van Gogh's visit to Arles provided an occasion to meet reporters. She said that at age 14, she met Vincent van Gogh in her father's shop, later describing him as "dirty, badly dressed and disagreeable." She also reported attending the 1885 funeral of Victor Hugo.

At the age of 114, she appeared briefly in the film Vincent and Me as herself, making her the oldest actress ever. A French-language documentary film about her life, entitled Beyond 120 Years with Jeanne Calment, was released in 1995. In 1996, the nursing home where she lived released a CD Time's Mistress. It featured her reminiscing, set to rap and other tunes. She also was a smoker and only quit when she was 117 years old, because, nearly blind, she felt embarrassed to ask for a light. She was the last recognized surviving person of the 1870s.

Assignment of Record

After her 1988 interview, at age 113, Calment was given the Guinness Records "world's oldest person" title. She is first mentioned in the Guinness Records publication of 1989, in new claims at the end. However, in 1989 the title was withdrawn and given to Carrie C. White of Florida, who was claimed to have been born in 1874, although this has been disputed by subsequent census research.

On the death of White on February 14, 1991, Calment, then a week shy of 116, became the oldest recognized living person. On October 17, 1995 Calment reached 120 years and 238 days to become the Guinness "oldest person ever," surpassing Shigechiyo Izumi of Japan, whose own claim is also subject to some doubt.

If the questionable cases of Shigechiyo Izumi and Carrie White are discounted, Jeanne is the first person to reach 115, 116, 117, 118, 119, 120, 121 and 122 years old. She is the only undisputed person to have lived more than 119 years. For information on competing, but unsuccessfully verified claims of longevity: see longevity claims.

Following her death on August 4 1997, Marie-Louise Meilleur of Canada became the oldest recognized person in the world.

Quotes

"J'ai été oubliée par le Bon Dieu." ("I've been forgotten by God.")
"I took pleasure when I could. I acted clearly and morally and without regret. I'm very lucky."
"I've only got one wrinkle, and I'm sitting on it."
"Wine, I'm in love with that."
On her 120th birthday, she was asked what kind of future she would expect to have. "A very short one," she answered.

References

Allard, Michel. 1998. Jeanne Calment: from Van Gogh's time to ours, 122 extraordinary years. New York: WH Freeman. ISBN 07-1673-251-3.
Robine, Jean-Marie and Allard, Michel. 1999. "Jeanne Calment: Validation of the Duration of Her Life", in Validation of Exceptional Longevity, Bernard Jeune and James W. Vaupel, eds. Odense University Press. ISBN 87-7838-466-4

External links

Her descendance

1875 births | 1997 deaths | Supercentenarians | World record holders

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