….Ironically, Misao Okawa has described her life as “rather short.”
The world’s oldest person, died today, just weeks after celebrating her 117th birthday.
The Japanese woman, who said 117 years goes by rather quickly, died of heart failure and stopped breathing, said Tomohiro Okada, an official at her Osaka nursing home, according to the AP.
“She went so peacefully, as if she had just fallen asleep,” Okada told the AP. “We miss her a lot.”
Okawa, the daughter of a kimono maker, was born on March 5, 1898, in Osaka and was recognized as the oldest person in the world by Guinness World Records in 2013.
Okada said Okawa lost her appetite about 10 days ago. She celebrated her birthday in March at her nursing home, wearing a pink kimono with cherry blossom prints. During her birthday, she was quoted as saying she was “very happy” to be that age.
Still, she wasn’t sure what the secret to longevity was. “I wonder about that too,” she told the AP.
Okawa wed her husband, Yukio, in 1919, and they had two daughters and a son. Her husband died in 1931, according to the AP.
She was survived by four grandchildren and six great-grandchildren.
Since Okawa’s death, the world’s oldest person is now an American named Gertrude Weaver, who lives in Arkansas. Weaver, like Okawa, was born in 1898, and is due to turn 117 on July 4.
Regency Nursing Centers has achieved the Guinness World Record For Hosting the largest number of Centenarians under 1 roof!
Watch the embedded video clip below!
