News of the death of Ryde supercentenarian, Gladys Hooper, has not only gone national, the farewell wishes have too.
Born in January 1903, Gladys became the oldest living person in the UK following the death of Ethel Lang (114) in 2015.
According to CBS News, America’s oldest person, also aged 113 years old, passed away on Friday.
Concert pianist and aviator
Hailing from Dulwich in London, Gladys has been a concert pianist and aviator. Through her passion for flying, rubbed shoulders with many great aeronautical names of the 1920s.
According to Oldest in Britain Website, Gladys learned to drive in the 1920s and ran a care hire company, turning down an opportunity to become managing director of Hertz.
Living independently until the age of 101, at 112, Gladys was thought to be the oldest person to undergo a hip replacement operation.
Gladys’ only son, Derek Hermiston, told the Guardian,
“She passed away, she just faded, 113-and-a-half is a good old age.
“We saw her this morning [Saturday], she seemed reasonably well, she was sleeping. We had left her for just about an hour when they called us to tell us she had passed away.”
Joined by America’s oldest person
America’s oldest person, Goldie Michelson, was month short of her 114th birthday when she passed away on Friday (8th July).
Born in Russia in 1902, Goldie moved to the US when she was a child.
Her secret to living a long life was walking. She told the alumni magazine for Clark University,
“I was a great walker – four or five miles every morning, weather permitting. I never used a car if I could walk. One of the great joys of life was when I sold my car.”
Our sympathies go out both families.
