Corbeil, Ontario - Marie Loise Meilleur, the world's oldest person, has
died at the age of 117.
Her daughter Olive Therrien said Meilleur died peacefully Thursday
afternoon at the Nipissing Manor nursing home where she had lived for the
past 10 years.
"She's been very well until last week," said Therrien, 78 of
Peterborough, Ont. "She got a blood clot in her leg, and it moved from
her leg into her lung."
Meilleur had 10 children from two marriages, most of whom have died,
Therrien told the Peterborough Examiner.
"She looked after her family. She was a wonderful person."
Meilleur is survived by three daughters and one son. The oldest is 89,
a daughter who lives in Barrie, Ont.
Born Aug. 29,1880, in Kamouraska, Que., Meilleur celebrated her 117th
birthday last August at a celebration attended by family, friends, and a
host of dignitaries, including Premier Mike Harris.
At the celebration, her 72-year-old daughter Rita Gutzman explained the
secret (of) Meilleur's long life was hard work.
"She said hard work could never kill a person," Gutzman said.
Because she was almost blind and could barely hear, it's not clear
whether she realized she had been designated the world's oldest person.
She assumed the mantle after the death of Frenchwoman Jeanne Calment at
age 122. The Guinness Book of World Records accepted Meilleur because
some of the other contenders didn't have the documentation Guinness
requires.
She had 85 grandchildren, 80 great-grandchildren, 57
great-great-grandchildren and four great-great-great-grandchildren.
Affectionately known as Memere to her family, she had walked into the
Nipissing Manor home with only the aid of a cane in 1988 at the tender
age of 107. She had been living in Deep River, Ont.
No arrangements have been made yet for the funeral, Therrien said.
Endquote.
Note:
Marie Meilleur had a propensity to get a lot of exercise, in common
with Jeanne Calment, who rode a bicycle until the age of 100.
Exercise has been found to be a protective factor in old people in
(Arch Intern Med 157: 2249-2258 1997). The following is Table 6 from this
report listing a mutlivariate analysis of all-cause mortality in
Oldest-Old (>84 yrs) Seventh-Day Adventists.
Variable Risk of Death
Men Women Total
Male sex 1.36
Diabetes 1.86 1.38 1.51
Past Smoking 0.90 0.87 0.89
Exercise
Low 1.00 1.00 1.00
Medium 0.75 0.81 0.81
High 0.61 0.92 0.80
Nuts per week
<1 1.00 1.00 1.00
1-4 times 0.84 0.89 0.88
>=5 times 0.77 0.84 0.82
Fruit per day
<1 1.00 1.00 1.00
1 0.86 1.04 0.96
>=2 1.14 0.88 0.93
Bread
Whole Grain 1.00 1.00 1.00
White 0.87 1.16 1.07
Donuts per week
Never 1.00 1.00 1.00
<1 0.99 1.03 1.01
>=1 1.40 1.18 1.24
Sweet Desserts per week
<1 1.00 1.00 1.00
1-2 0.90 0.91 0.90
>=3 0.93 0.97 0.97
Beef per week 1.00 1.00 1.00
Never 1.00 1.00 1.00
<3 1.02 0.99 0.98
>=4 1.31 1.01 1.08
Fish per week
<1 1.00 1.00 1.00
>=1 0.89 0.99 0.98