Edith Rose Ceccarelli (née Recagno, formerly Keenan; February 5, 1908 – February 22, 2024) was an American

supercentenarian A supercentenarian, sometimes hyphenated as super-centenarian, is a person who is 110 or older. This age is achieved by about one in 1,000 centenarians. Supercentenarians typically live a life free of significant age-related diseases until short ...

. At age 116 years and 17 days, she was the oldest person living in the United States and was also the second oldest living person in the world after Maria Branyas Morera from Spain.

Biography

Born in

Willits, California Willits (formerly Little Lake and Willitsville) is a city in Mendocino County, California, Mendocino County, California, United States. It is located about north-northwest of Ukiah, California, Ukiah, at an elevation of . The population was 4,9 ...

, on February 5, 1908, Ceccarelli was the eldest of the seven children of Italian immigrants Agostino (1874–1965) and Maria Recagno (1881–1973), who both lived into their 90s. Her father was a lumber worker who also sold groceries by horse and buggy before opening a store in Willits in 1916. She graduated from Willits Union High School in 1927. Ceccarelli danced regularly well into old age, and lived independently until she turned 107 and moved into a retirement home. She suffered from

dementia Dementia is a syndrome associated with many neurodegenerative diseases, characterized by a general decline in cognitive abilities that affects a person's ability to perform activities of daily living, everyday activities. This typically invo ...

, but was able to walk with a

walker Walker or The Walker may refer to: People *Walker (given name) *Walker (surname) *Walker (Brazilian footballer) (born 1982), Brazilian footballer Places In the United States *Walker, Arizona, in Yavapai County *Walker, Mono County, California * ...

until she was 114. Each year, her birthday was celebrated officially by the town of Willits, the final being a drive-by parade to mark her 116th birthday in 2024.

Personal life and death

In 1933, she married Elmer Keenan, whom she had met in high school, and moved with him to

Santa Rosa, California Santa Rosa (Spanish language, Spanish for "Rose of Lima, Saint Rose") is a city in and the county seat of Sonoma County, California, Sonoma County, in the North Bay (San Francisco Bay Area), North Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, Bay A ...

, where he worked as a

typesetter Typesetting is the composition of Written language, text for publication, display, or distribution by means of arranging metal type, physical ''type'' (or ''sort'') in mechanical systems or ''glyphs'' in digital systems representing ''char ...

for ''

The Press Democrat ''The Press Democrat'', with the largest circulation in California's North Bay, is a daily newspaper published in Santa Rosa, California. History The newspaper was founded in 1897 by Ernest L. Finley, Grant Richards, and Charles O. Dunbar, w ...

''. They adopted a daughter, Laureen, who died in 2003, and returned to Willits in 1971. After being widowed in 1984, she married Charles Ceccarelli in 1986 and was widowed for a second time in 1990. Ceccarelli outlived her six younger siblings, two husbands, a daughter, and three grandchildren. She became the oldest living person in the United States when Iowan Bessie Hendricks died in January 2023. Edith Ceccarelli died on February 22, 2024, at the age of 116. At the time of her death, she was the oldest living American and second oldest living person in the world. Upon Ceccarelli's death, Elizabeth Francis became the oldest living person in the United States.

References

External links

Gerontology Research Group (GRG)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ceccarelli, Edith 1908 births 2024 deaths People from Willits, California 20th-century American women 21st-century American women American people of Italian descent American supercentenarians People with dementia Women supercentenarians