World's oldest person Violet Mosse–Brown dies aged 117

Sep 18, 2017, 12.09 PM IST

Death of a legend

The world's oldest person, Violet Moss Brown has died. She was 117 years and 189 days old. She was named the world's oldest person in April.

Moss Brown, who was born on March 10, 1900, grabbed the Guinness World Record following the death of previous record-holder Emma Morano, of Italy, who died at the very same age.

She famously abstained from eating fruits and veggies in favor of biscuits and had attributed her longevity to three eggs a day, two of them eaten raw.

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The oldest surviving person

With Violet Mosse Brown's death, the Gerontology Research Group lists Nabi Tajima of Japan as the oldest surviving person. She was born on Aug. 4, 1900.

There are approximately 300 to 450 living supercentenarians in the world, though only 50 of those cases are known to Gerontology Research Group, which keeps a verified list of those over 110 individuals

Reuters

Her meeting with Andrew Holness

Prime Minister Andrew Holness places the medal of appreciation around the neck of super centenarian Violet Brown. She attributed her long life to continous hardwork and her devotion towards god.

Last known subject of Queen Victoria

Violet Brown was the last known subject of Queen Victoria, the British Monarch who died on 22 January 1901.

Mosse-Brown, known as Aunt V, is the last living subject of Queen Victoria, as Jamaica was part of the British West Indies when she was born in 1900, according to her foundation's biography.

Violet was 10 months old at the time.

The life of Violet Brown

She was married to cemetery keeper Augustus Gaynor Brown until he died. They had six children. She is a great-great-grandmother and has descendants in Jamaica, the United States, Europe and Africa, according to IAmJamaican.

Mosse-Brown's son Harold Fairweather is 97, making him the oldest person in the world who has a living parent. Mosse-Brown's parents lived to 96 years old, according to the Jamaica Observer.

Plantation worker to an entrepreneur

Mosse-Brown initially worked as a plantation worker cutting cane for her masters. After a lot of hardships, she was able to buy property to grow her own sugarcane and would walk two days from Duanvale to the town where she could sell it. She would carry the cane on the back of a donkey or on her head.

The entrepreneur also opened the only bread shop in town, and was a music teacher and seamstress and highly involved in her local Church.