Elizabeth Francis, who lived through two world wars and saw the invention of everything from the TV to the internet, passed away Tuesday at the remarkable age of 115, previously making her the oldest living person in the United States.
Francis was born in Louisiana on July 25, 1909, while William Howard Taft was president. After her mother died when she was 11, she moved to Houston, where she was raised by her aunt and lived there the rest of her life, according to Fox News.
KTRK-TV, a local Houston news station, interviewed Francis on her 114th birthday last August. Present at the celebration was a long list of family members, extending to five generations, from Francis to her great-great-grandchildren.
When asked about the secret to her longevity, Francis said that she never smoked or drank, but with a smile said that she ate everything.
“It’s hard to believe, but it’s a blessing because she has been a wonderful mother and grandmother to all of us,” her daughter, Dorothy Williams, told KTRK-TV. “She has been our backbone.”
Francis attributed her long life to “the Lord’s blessings.”
According to LongeviQuest, which monitors and verifies the status of supercentenarians — people over the age of 110 — Francis was the third-oldest person in the world, after Tomiko Itooka of Japan, who is 116 years and 154 days old, and Inah Canabarro Lucas of Brazil, who is 116 years and 138 days old.
The oldest verified person ever is Jeanne Calment of France, who died at 122 years and 164 days.
Ben Meyers, CEO of LongeviQuest, told Fox News he believes Francis’s longevity was due to her strong connections with family and community.
“One thing that she really is an example of more than almost anybody else I’ve met is just family and community,” Meyers told Fox News.
“It’s very difficult for people to reach that age in isolation,” he added.