Sarah Knauss had a simple response when she learned she was the oldest woman alive. "So what?" the 117-year-old said Friday.
Marie-Louise Febronie Meilleur, a Canadian who died Thursday, was Knauss' senior by 26 days. The Guinness Book of Records has officially passed the mantle to Knauss.Born Sept. 24, 1880, in a small mining town, she married Abraham Lincoln Knauss in 1901. "Abe," a well-known Lehigh County Republican and recorder of deeds, died in 1965 at age 86. Their daughter, Kathryn Sullivan, is 93.
Sarah Knauss moved into a nursing home seven years ago. She can often be seen watching golf on television, or keeping an eye on Kathryn as she does needlepoint during visits with her mother.
Her passions are milk chocolate turtles, cashews and potato chips.
"She's a very tranquil person and nothing fazes her," her daughter said Friday. "That's why she's living this long."
Knauss' eyesight is still sharp enough for her to read the morning paper, but she is nearly deaf and communication is increasingly difficult.
A minister visiting her once asked Knauss what she thought about death. "I'm not going to die," she told him. "That was about 10 years ago," Sullivan said, "and she didn't."