RIP: Clémentine Solignac

Clémentine Solignac
7 Sep 1894 - 25 May 2008

ZUI this article from AFP:

France's oldest citizen, Clementine Solignac, who lived through two world wars and the turn of two centuries, has died aged 113, her retirement home said on Monday.

Solignac died early Sunday morning surrounded by her family, in a retirement home in Vorey-sur-Arzon in the central Haute Loire region, the town where she was born on September 7, 1894. Her funeral will take place on Wednesday.

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Until the age of 106, she led an independent life, cooking for herself each day on a wood-burning stove and milking her grandson's cows, according to relatives.

For those who read French, a longer article (with photographs) from AFP can be found here.

According to the Gerontology Research Group (GRG), Mme Solignac was the fourth-oldest person in the world at the time of her death. They now list Eugenie Blanchard (born 16 Feb 1896), of the overseas department of Guadeloupe, as the oldest living French person and the 14th-oldest person in the world.

Solignac is the second supercentenarian to die since the death of Astrid Zachrison on 15 May. The other was Daniel Guzman-Garcia of Columbia (6 Feb 1897-21 May 2008).

The GRG's list of validated living supercentenarians (people who have reached their 110th birthday) currently includes 74 people (10 men and 64 women), ranging from Edna Parker of Indiana (born 20 Apr 1893) to Maria-Lucia Ugual Pistrelli of Italy (born 3 Apr 1898). Blanchard is the only one listed as living in France.