Van Andel-Schipper ascended to the longevity title after the death of Ramona Trinidad Iglesias-Jordan of San Juan, Puerto Rico, on May 29, 2004. Iglesias-Jordan was thought to have been the planet's last person to die of all those born in 1889.
Now the title of world's oldest person has been bestowed on Elizabeth Jones Bolden of Memphis, Tenn., who is 115. Her birth date of Aug. 15, 1890, was verified for Guinness in April by Robert Young, the Atlanta-based senior claims investigator of the Gerontology Research Group.
For The Record
Los Angeles Times Monday September 05, 2005 Home Edition Main News Part A Page 2 National Desk 3 inches; 98 words Type of Material: Correction
Obituary of oldest person -- The obituary in Wednesday's California section of 115-year-old Hendrikje van Andel-Schipper, the world's oldest person, said the Gerontology Research Group was tracking 66 people 110 or older. The official list shows 68. The obituary said Van Andel-Schipper had the 15th-longest life span ever validated, but Robert Young, the group's senior claims investigator, said the official list ranked her 14th. The obituary said that the birth date of Van Andel-Schipper's successor as oldest person, Elizabeth Bolden, had been validated by Young. He co-validated it with Jeff Knight, a volunteer researcher who works with Young.
The Gerontology Research Group tracks what it calls supercentenarians, or those over 110, to learn more about human longevity. As of Tuesday, Epstein reported, the group had verified the age of 66 such people worldwide. Only four are men.
The gerontologists said it was unusual for one 115-year-old to succeed another to the title.
Young told The Times last year that Van Andel-Schipper inherited the longevity title "at a mere 113," after a string of six who had been named at age 114. He said 114 is the most common maximum human life span.
The longest-living person on record was France's Jeanne Calment, who died in 1997 at the age of 122 years and 164 days.
The world's oldest man currently is Emiliano Mercado del Toro, 114, of Puerto Rico. His birth date of Aug. 21, 1891, was validated last year.
Although many families claim a certain relative is of a triple-digit age, Young and his fellow demography detectives are sticklers about validation.
Birth certificates for those born in the 19th century are usually rare, but the researchers use whatever records can be found -- such as baptismal certificates, marriage certificates, census data and military records.
