Mary Josephine Ray is shown during her 111th birthday
party. (AP Photo/Keene Sentinel, Steve Hooper, File)
Mary Josephine Ray, the New Hampshire woman who was
certified as the oldest person living in the United States, has
died at age 114 years, 294 days.
She died on Sunday (local time) at a nursing home in
Westmoreland but was active until about two weeks before her
death, her granddaughter Katherine Ray said.
"She just enjoyed life. She never thought of dying at all,"
Katherine Ray said. "She was planning for her birthday
party."
Even with her recent decline, Ray managed an interview with a
reporter last week, her granddaughter said.
The Gerontology Research Group says that Ray was the oldest
person in the United States and the second-oldest in the
world. She was also recorded as the oldest person ever to
live in New Hampshire.
The oldest living American is now Neva Morris, of Ames, Iowa,
at age 114 years, 216 days. The oldest person in the world is
Japan's Kama Chinen at age 114 years, 301 days.
Ray was born May 17, 1895, in Bloomfield, Prince Edward
Island, Canada. She moved to the United States at age 3.
She lived for 60 years in Anson, Maine. She lived in Florida,
Massachusetts and elsewhere in New Hampshire before she moved
to Westmoreland in 2002 to be near her children.
Ray's husband, Walter, died in 1967. Survivors include two
sons, eight grandchildren, 13 great-grandchildren and five
great-great grandchildren.
Bookmark/Search this post with:
A name, residential address, and (preferably residential) telephone number is required from readers who comment on ODT Online. These details will not be visible to site visitors.