Recently, I was looking online at my local newspaper and came across an obituary for a 102-year-old woman that was born in my county of residence in Virginia. It describes her parents' names and that she was survived by a sister.

Don't get your hopes up when you see obituaries like that because with larger families in the past in many parts of USA, it could easily be a younger sibling that could be more than 10 years younger.

In this particular case, when I looked at the 1910 Census match of the parents & siblings, the 102-year-old woman was actually the youngest child, which meant that her surviving sister was older!

After further research, it appears that the older sister is 106 right now and that she lives 5 minutes away from me. Since she's only 106, there is no need to share the information yet, including her birth date.

This is more of just a FYI that sometimes obituaries can help you locate a centenarian (and a future potential supercentenarian) near you.

* CalvinTy

That is amazing Marc!

The oldest near me (while at University) would be Adam Bidston, 108. However at home I live close to Catherine Masters (and Florence Webb until she died).

Unfortuanatly, my country South Africa is really not good at this cenaterians and supercenaterians cases...but i know of 2 males one 103 and 102 that could be futher supercenaterians...but local i dont know and where to research..like i said my country is not good in recordholding of ages.

Sounds like an idea! I hope I can find some online (since I don't buy newspapers naturally).

Nick, my name is spelled Mark. :)

In any case, I prefer to be called Calvin on the forum(s). I do the same for others who I know their names, such as makila and SiameseTurtle, but I always say "makila" or "SiameseTurtle", not their real names. I do share my name in e-mails or WOP messages because it's at least 'semi-private' of sorts.

* CalvinTy

You can start with your local newspapers online. Though, you are apparently in a country (I did not want to mention the country because you haven't shared yet -- never mind, your profile do show "Greece") where I have no idea how good their online newspapers may be, but most newspapers do have an "Obituaries" area.

A thing I do notice is that sometimes obituaries are freely accessible for a week (or two weeks) before they are archived and requires payment to see them. Checking your newspaper once a week would be good enough to learn more about people near you that has passed away and whether they have any living relatives that may be a centenarian.

Cheers,

* CalvinTy

Yes, unfortunately I ran a quick check and I found none on the internet so they're not nearly as good as in the US or other countries. I'm pretty sure actual newspapers have some - I'll certainly look into it this weekend.

well if she's still alive in January 2015 B)

Speaking of centenarians and newspapers, I discovered a woman in the obituary section of today's newspaper (21 January) who had died at age 104.

She is the oldest person I have learnt of through the obituaries section of the newspaper, beating another woman who died in 2010 at 103. (Though, of course, this isn't supposed to be a "competition". But enough of that already.)

Singapore's life expectancy is around 82 years, but I would expect at most six to ten supercentenarians in Singapore.

This is probably because many Chinese Singaporeans born in the 1900s and 1910s were immigrants to Singapore by junk or similar transport, largely prior to the world wars.

Singapore was occupied by Japan for three years during WWII. Finding, or validating, them is as futile as trying to validate a Chinese supercentenarian like Zheng Ji. Most of the source documents, I believe, would still be in China or, worse, destroyed.

The Singapore media appreciates longevity (I found out about Fadilah Noor Abbe, claimed birth year 1897, through the newspapers), but they're not exactly intent on reporting every single person 100 years or older shoved under their noses.

With just 5 million people, I find it hard to believe there would be 6-10 supercentenarians. Take the UK for example: 60 million people and only 11 supercentenarians currently. A similar story for France, too.

Six to 10 supercentenarians is already being too optimistic on my part. ;)

I've visited some nursing homes previously, though due to the fact that I am normally extremely busy with various other things, I don't volunteer at senior centers regularly.

Yet, the few nursing homes I've visited are of considerably lower standard than those in the United States.

They're not like hospitals.

Some don't even have air-conditioning...but one thing that can be said is that they are more often than not well-ventilated and cool enough for the old folk to live comfortably.

In the heat of Singapore many old folk can give out, which makes it of paramount importance that the nursing homes are of an acceptable temperature. They're hygienic, though a simple visit doesn't make it seem so at first glance. ;)

I just want to note this, if anyone cares.

I live in Greece and I've been trying to get info on centenarians (really doubt there's anyone over 105 here). I sent an e-mail to the national gerontological organisation two weeks ago, and finally got a reply yesterday: they gave me the phone number of someone that supposedly has that info! I'll call him this weekend (or the next, if I'm busy).

Good stuff.

There's almost certainly someone over 105 though. I think Greece has got a population in the region of 10 million? There could be a supercentenarian hiding there somewhere...

I can't even find cases in Greece that are 110, 120, and so on. I think that Greece is a country of high age claims.

I can't wait to hear back. Keep us updated slime!

Mersene Zohos of the United States was born in Greece. She claims a birth date of March 16, 1900. Perhaps birth records of her can be found within Greece?

Whatever happened to Elias Athanasiades, a male who claimed to have been born on May 14, 1891, and who was last heard of on November 22, 2004?

http://www.mpa.gr/article.html?doc_id=484021 (no longer available)

http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/World...le/message/2393

I'll see what I can dig up on both cases - but I have so much to do this weekend it may have to wait until next week :(

I'll also have to decide how to go about it. It's not as simple as going into a website and checking for a name - not in Greece :P

Apologizes for bumping an old thread (especially more than one year ago), but that will become clear in a minute why I did that.

The obituary I referenced to was about this woman, Alice (Vaughn) Arrington, who was 102 when she died in January 2011:

http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/starexpon...75275&fhid=5993

Like I said in my original post, I realized that her sister, Ethel Mae (Vaughn) Davis, was several years older than her.

A few weeks ago, in my hometown, I went to the church to see if Ethel Davis's gravesite had been changed or updated. It had not, and her gravestone did say "1904 - " suggesting she was still alive.

Unfortunately, as I checked online today, I find that she just passed away a few weeks ago at age of 107.

http://fredericksburg.com/News/FLS/2012/05...05062012/699687

When I first registered here on this forum, there was a 107-year-old woman living in my county that died. Now here's another (Mrs. Ethel Davis may have actually died in the adjacent county, but her church & gravesite is in my hometown).

* CalvinTy

Not only that, few months ago, I was trying to figure out about the number of centenarians in my county via the 2010 U.S. Census including the fact it said "4" who were "105+" (remember, that was April 2010 data).

One of them was this woman who died at age 106 in my hometown in early 2011:

http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/independe...y&pid=149785589

Her residence was about one mile away from my previous condo. Go figure!

* CalvinTy

Perfect example with the 106-year-old woman I just posted in the previous post, Maude (Little) McCoy. She was survived by "one sister, Willie Jay Easley, of Stanfield".

That sister passed away in February 2012 at the age of..... 86.

http://www.hartsellfh.com/fh/obituaries/ob...566&fh_id=12058

So siblings can be 20 years apart, even to same parents (Maude was born December 20, 1904, while Willie Jay was born June 21, 1925).

* CalvinTy

Are there any SCs or at least people ages 107+ here in Irvine, CA or in Orange County, CA right now?

I believe so -- I think I recently came across a case in Orange County, CA. I haven't started to include counties when I include a case from a specific USA state. That'll be done someday.

Nonetheless, I am pretty sure I was collecting (or just reading) information about a person in Orange County, CA within the last month or so. If so, that person would be at least 108+. (However, I can't promise that I was reading about a case that is still living.)

* CalvinTy

As of April 2010 Census, please see the attachment on what Orange County, CA, reported having counts of specific age(s) in the county.

You can see that there is a claimed number of 49 people of both sexes between the ages of 105 to 109 years (page 3 of 6 of the attached PDF).

You can figure out the rest based on mortality rates.

Also, with a population of 3.01 million residents... it stands to reason that there indeed are a couple of supercentenarians in that county (6 may be a high number due to some exaggerated claims).

* CalvinTy

Thanks, Calvin. BTW, did you receive my PM?

The forum did not allow me to upload a PDF file... I ended up putting this in my Skydrive account:

https://skydrive.live.com/#cid=FDA16D787DE2...E2B472!1214

* CalvinTy

Oh yeah, I did & I forwarded it along.

* CalvinTy

Thank you, Calvin. :)