I got the info of Edie Ceccarelli passed away on Feb. 22.

https://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/news/edie-ceccarelli-willits-resident-and-oldest-living-american-dies-two-week/

In Japan or some country, this link is blocked, but maybe can read throught an alternative link:  https://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/news/edie-ceccarelli-willits-resident-and-oldest-living-american-dies-two-week /" target="_blank" rel="noopener"> https://web.archive.org/web/20240223052227/https://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/news/edie-ceccarelli-willits-resident-and-oldest-living-american-dies-two-week/

(Although I cannot create a single thread because the GSF administrator has restricted the creation of threads. Separate this post if necessary)

Elizabeth Francis now the oldest living person in the USA & Last living person 1900s decade in the USA, just shortly after announced that she was entered the top 100 oldest people ever.

Oh dear oh dear, how incredibly sad.

What a remarkable personality Edie was, almost until the very end. 

Her position as a legend in her own town, largely driven by her efforts to share her own 100th birthday. Recordings show her actively engaging in conversation with others after 115 and a general outgoing nature and zest for life, not totally obscured by her dementia very late on.

A life well lived and a lovely lady.

Rest in peace Edith Ceccarelli.

Rest in peace Ms. Ceccarelli. We will remember you forever 😢

Rest in Eternal Peace Mrs. Edie Ceccarelli. 

Rest in peace Edie Ceccarelli.

She in her photos of her 116

birthday still looked fine and dandy, maybe his death wasn't unexpected, but we didn't think it would be so soon.

At least she reached the incredible age of 116 years old.

She is the youngest person to die at 116 years old since 2015 (116 years and 17 days)

I'm not only happy for the fact Edie reached this extreme age because of the records and numbers (which, in themselves are amazing, again, her was the first 116th birthday in the US since 2015!), but because through her achievements, we were lucky to get to know a wonderful, witty and shining woman. 

Rest in peace, Edie Ceccarelli.

Rest in eternal peace, Ms. Edie Ceccarelli.

We will not forget her. She was an inspiration of vitality, soulfulness and enjoyment of live.

I am happy for her that she lived a fulfilled live. An example for us how one can get through all tribulations in a lifetime.

Rest in eternal peace, Edie Ceccarelli 😢 

Eddie Ceccarelli was the oldest in the USA since January 3, 2023, 1 year and 50 days, she was the longest in this position since Hester Ford who stayed between November 23, 2019 and April 17, 2021 (1 year and 145 days), the oldest old woman to die in the USA since Susannah Mushatt Jones who died at 116 years and 311 days on May 12, 2016, and died in California, which has not had an oldest person in the country since Gertrude Baines who became the oldest person in the USA on November 26, 2008 and 11 Sep 2009. His Successor Elizabeth Francis lives in Texas, which has not had an older person in the country since Eunice Sanborn, who was between 6 Apr 2010 and 31 Jan 2011
Eddie was the 29th oldest person of all time (validated), the 8th in history in the United States (his successor is 37th), the oldest in history to die in California, the second oldest in history to be born in California (just behind Marya Branyas Morera)
The oldest person living in California now is Ilse Meingast, born in Germany on 14 March 1912 (111 years, 346 days), in
Berlin, lives in Cotati, she is the youngest person to be the oldest in California since Clarence Matthews who died at 111 years, 82 days on July 22, 2017

RIP

RIP Edie Ceccarelli 😔

Rest in peace, Edie Ceccarelli (1908-2024). 😔

Edie is also the youngest 116 year old, assuming this position from Jeralean Talley who reached the age of 116-25.

Today we must say goodbye to an individual whom, despite all the hardships life three at her, contained an almost infinite well of kindness, generosity, and genuine love for her community for countless years, and remained strong and beautiful all the way until the very end a her tremendously long and rich life. 

Goodbye, Edith Ceccarelli, it's been nice knowing you

Edie was such a warm and inspirational lady, beloved by all in her community. To not just live to such a rare age, but to have carved out such a legacy of kindness and generosity really cements her as being a unique individual.

Rest in Peace.

Although her death may seem unexpected given that she looked quite well a few weeks ago, I still wouldn't say she died prematurely. She was described as having had "ups and downs" health-wise shortly before her birthday; I think this was just her body finally starting to run out of its last bit of life energy. So I will say that she reached her "full potential". She passed peacefully on her own terms, being in amazing health for her age her entire life

Once again, Rest in Eternal Peace, Edie

https://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/news/edie-ceccarelli-pride-of-willits-and-2nd-oldest-person-in-world-dies-at-1/?gallery=ac18f0ef-a937-4400-8375-60c54f42cdb7

Edie Ceccarelli, pride of Willits and 2nd oldest person in world, dies at 116

The global wonder and native daughter of Willits lived, for the most part very well, for 116 years and 17 days

CHRIS SMITH

FOR THE PRESS DEMOCRAT

February 23, 2024, 5:33PM Updated 4 hours ago

Edith Ceccarelli, for more than a year the oldest living American and for far longer the pride of Willits, died Thursday in her sleep.

Her gentle passing came not quite three weeks after her hometown in the heart of Mendocino County grandly celebrated the Feb. 5 birthday that made her only the second person alive to attain age 116.

Since her death, tears have flowed at Willits’ six-resident Holy Ghost Residential Care Home, where Ceccarelli, who went by Edie, lived since she was 107. Prior to that, she fared well alone in her Willits home.

“I hope people understand, it’s sad,” said Perla Gonzalez, co-owner of the Holy Ghost residence. She said Edie Ceccarelli was so much more than old.

Gonzalez remembers Edie offering her most classic piece of advice for extraordinary longevity: “Have a couple of fingers of red wine with your dinner, and mind your own business.”

But, in truth, Gonzalez said Friday, “I think the secret was really her positivity, and her sincerity and kindness. I don’t think she ever thought bad about other people.”

Gonzalez said Ceccarelli also was, all her life, extraordinarily active, healthy and vital — and a member of the Clean Plate Club. “We know she loved to eat,” Gonzalez said.

For the most part she required no assistance at the table, but now and again in recent weeks, she showed little or no interest in her meals.

On Thursday, Gonzalez said, her caregivers at the Holy Ghost home helped her eat a bit of strawberry yogurt, a few tastes of applesauce and a couple of spoonfuls of perhaps her favorite food — ice cream. That was all.

The woman renowned for being born in 1908 and for dressing impeccably and greeting people on her long walks through Willits mostly slept on Thursday. Said Gonzalez, “I would say that for the last week we just kept her in bed because she was too weak to sit or stand.”

A hospice nurse had been visiting. Edie’s primary care doctor, Elizabeth Olson, came whenever Gonzalez reached out to her. Edie’s cousins in Willits arranged Thursday for a priest to offer the last rites.

Gonzales said everyone involved in Edie’s care could not have been more responsive. “The beauty of a small town,” she said.

When the end came at midafternoon Thursday, said Gonzalez, “It was very peaceful.”

The global wonder had lived — and for the most part lived very well — for 116 years and 17 days.

How many other human beings ever are verified to have lived to age 116? Not even 30.

On Friday, Willits Mayor Saprina Rodriguez was missing Edie.

“Despite the fact she was 116, we were all cheering and rooting for her next birthday,” Rodriguez said. She said that in Willits, a city of only about 5,000, Edie was well known and deeply admired.

“We’ll definitely take a moment of silence for her at the next council meeting,” the mayor said.

Rodriguez may always remember when on Feb. 4, just before the start of the city’s long, 116th birthday parade, she was alongside Ceccarelli when she was presented a glorious, decorated cake and was told it was her birthday.

“Her eyes just kind of lit up and she said, ‘What? It’s my birthday!’” Rodriguez recalled.

A moment later, Edie traced a couple of fingers along the icing and tasted it. Then she ran her fingers along the cake again.

That Feb. 4 parade was, despite a wet and windy storm, the biggest ever for Ceccarelli. News stories about it ran in the New York Times, on ABC World News with David Muir and elsewhere.

In recent years, as deaths occurred among the few people on Earth older than she, Ceccarelli unwittingly achieved one distinction after another.

She became the oldest person living in California on July 2, 2022.

On Jan. 3, 2023, with the passing of 115-year-old Bessie Hendricks of Iowa, Ceccarelli became the oldest living American.

On Oct. 16, 2023, she turned 115 years and 253 days old, the age required to set a record as the oldest person ever to have lived in California.

Just last Dec. 12, Fusa Tatsumi died in Japan at 116. On that day, researchers with the Guinness Book of World Records and the Los Angeles-based Gerontology Research Group moved Edie up from the Earth’s third oldest living person, to second.

That is where she was on Thursday, one notch below Maria Branyas Morera of Spain, whose 117th birthday is March 4.

“She lived a great life,” said cousin Lee Persico, also of Willits. “I just wish she’d outlasted the other lady and made it to the Oldest in the World.”

Robert Young of the Gerontology Research Group had heard a great deal about Ceccarelli when he and colleague Natalie Coles came to see her in Willits last fall. Young, the group’s director of supercentenarian (110 years old and older) research and database division, was impressed.

Though she clearly showed signs of dementia, he said, “she still seemed fairly sharp. She still had her personality.”

Young learned Ceccarelli was always so healthy she not only had no prescription medication in her medicine cabinet, she didn’t keep even aspirin.

“She didn’t die from sickness,” said Young. “She died because her body reached its biological limit for her.”

Asked to suggest what other essentials of a historically long life Ceccarelli might have possessed, Young noted that she was always slender, she drank alcohol in moderation and she was reliably sociable, upbeat, active and self-directed. As far as he could tell, he said, “She lived the life she wanted.”

Cousin by marriage Evelyn Persico, who’s married to Lee Persico, said, “She was such a people-person … she was so friendly and outgoing.”

Evelyn Persico admired Ceccarelli also for her generosity, much of it directed to children. Persico added, “She was always willing to help a person who was in need.”

But she was no wallflower.

“She was feisty, too,” she said. “She wouldn’t hesitate to tell you what side your bread was buttered on.”

Evelyn Persico has no doubt that her cousin’s extreme longevity was helped along by her remarkable stamina, and by the joy she found nearly all of her life in dancing and in walking.

Often cited — along with physical activity — as traits of supercentenarians are a personal sense of purpose, a healthful diet, connection with family, community and friends, a tendency to sleep well, and follow strategies for easing stress.

It appears to be very helpful also to be female and to have longevity in ones genes. S. Jay Olshansky, a professor of public health at the University of Illinois, once said about living well past 100, “You can’t make it out that far without having already won the genetic lottery at birth.”

Neither of Edie’s parents, Italian immigrants Agostino and Maria Recagno, lived to see 110. But both made it well into their 90s.

Edith Recagno was the firstborn of the couple’s seven children. Big news the year of her birth, 1908, included the introduction of the Ford Model T.

Edith arrived in a Willits house that her father built and that was without electricity or running water. Agostino also founded a grocery store in Willits in 1916.

She once wrote that her dad “would sit with us after dinner and help us read. He only had a third-grade education, but he was smart. I can still see the oil lamp on the table where we read.”

She graduated with the Willits Union High School Class of 1927. In 1933 she married high school sweetheart Elmer "Brick" Keenan and soon thereafter moved with him to Santa Rosa, where he went to work as a typesetter with The Press Democrat.

The Keenans settled onto Santa Rosa's Benton Street. They adopted a daughter, Laureen, who would grow up to marry and have three children. Each lived with an inherited condition; Edie outlived them all.

The Keenans lived in Santa Rosa for nearly 40 years. When Brick retired from the PD in 1971, he and Edie returned to quieter, smaller Willits. They had a house built on Willits' Mendocino Avenue.

Brick Keenan died in 1984. His widow later married Charles Ceccarelli. They'd lived happily for just a few years when Charles died in 1990.

Widowed and absent a dance partner, Edie at age 104, in 2012, placed an ad in the Willits paper. It read, “I, Edith Ceccarelli, also known as ‘Edie’ by her family and a multitude of friends, would like to keep on dancing.

“Dancing keeps your limbs strong. What is nicer than holding a lovely lady in your arms and dancing a beautiful waltz or two-step together.” Edie invited prospective dance partners to give her a call.

A fellow phoned her and they went dancing a few times before Edie decided to let the arrangement go. As Lee Persico recalls, she thought her new dance partner gripped a buck a bit too tightly.

Though she remained phenomenally healthy and active past age 110, memory loss and diminished awareness did slip up on her.

Perla Gonzalez, who operates the Holy Spirit Residential Care Home with her husband, Genaro, recalled the night she discovered that Edie was up, though it was quite late, and was doing what she was renowned for — grooming and dressing stylishly.

Gonzalez asked her what she was doing. She responded spiritedly, “I don’t want to be late for my own funeral!”

The people closest to Edie say it’s too early to say if or when a service will be held.

I also believe she reached her full potential and my own personal view is that (generally) the messages concerning her were becoming more conservative (and perhaps slightly pessimistic) these past few months.

In my opinion, one of the most elegant SCs. And it is very remarkable that she was in decent shape until the end.

Rest in peace, Edie Ceccarelli (vice-doyenne of the World).

Posted by: @siam

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In my opinion, one of the most elegant SCs.

In my opinion, too. And one of the most handsome SCs in old age. Good old Italian style;-)

Posted by: @stoa-oid

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Posted by: @siam

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In my opinion, one of the most elegant SCs.

In my opinion, too. And one of the most handsome SCs in old age. Good old Italian style;-)

 

Edie is a perfect example of how one can retain their natural beauty into old age. So is Maria

Rest in Peace, Edie

If you're wondering what she looks like without glasses (at age 108)...

Posted by: @mrcatlord

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Posted by: @stoa-oid

↑

Posted by: @siam

↑

In my opinion, one of the most elegant SCs.

In my opinion, too. And one of the most handsome SCs in old age. Good old Italian style;-)

 

Edie is a perfect example of how one can retain their natural beauty into old age. So is Maria

Rest in Peace, Edie

If you're wondering what she looks like without glasses (at age 108)...

-- attachment is not available --

Very well spoken, MrCatlord. I totally agree. Ms. Ceccarelli was an exceptionally gifted person in this way and in more others. She is a legend.

PS I like her glasses, too. They are so fashionable. A very good choice of her. This is so motivating for us that one could have such fun and enjoyment of life in old age if one is open-minded and positive.

https://www.willitsweekly.com/documents/WillitsWeekly_02292024_APages.pdf

Willits’ eldest resident Edie dies at 116 and 17 days of age

Only being outlived by one person on the entire planet, Edie Ceccarelli literally saw an entire planet’s worth of people change over during her 42,386 days on Earth. Every friend, neighbor, every grocery store worker, every celebrity, every president, every family member, everyone, they’ve all have rotated out to be a whole new set of people during her lifetime. But, now, she, too, is one of those members of the past generations. Ceccarelli, Willits’ famous resident and second-oldest verified person living on the planet, passed away Thursday, February 22 after celebrating her 116th birthday just two weeks earlier. She slipped into deep sleep and passed away without pain or discomfort, in her bed at the Holy Spirit Care Home in the afternoon on a most beautiful sunny day. “I was there with her just after lunch,” said Evelyn Persico, a cousin-by-marriage, dear friend, and advocate for Edie. “I kissed her forehead and told her goodbye, just like I’ve done every time I see her; I just didn’t know it was going to be the last time. I got the call about 45 minutes later that she was gone.” There had been hints of health-declining indicators for Ceccarelli, and nerves had been growing as to whether she’d make it for her 116th birthday on February 6, 2024, and the accompanying parade and party the day before on February 5. But, amazingly, she rallied for the festivities, and Persico, caregivers, and event planners all gave a sigh of relief that she not only made it, but even lasted for a good 45-plus minutes, piled under blankets and surrounded by heaters, in the inclement weather for the parade. “It was a long day for her with all the people and activities of the day,” said Persico. “But I do think that she really did enjoy it. She waved at the parade, and had her photo taken, and enjoyed some birthday cake. I was amazed she did so well.” Excitement and speculation about everyone meeting again for Edie’s birthday No. 117 stirred in the air among the gathered group during this year’s birthday celebrations, which included local and national news cameras, a documentary crew, and many friends and family members. However, those close to Edie knew that this would surely be the last celebration. “I remember looking at her for what turned out to be that last day, and telling her she just looked so beautiful,” said Persico. “Her complexion and coloring looked good, I laughed at her and told her that she even gave me all of her wrinkles, she looked so wonderful!” Persico said that in the three days leading up to Edie’s passing, additional signs were showing that Edie was shutting down more and more, and that the end was indeed not far away. They were able to have Father Arogyaiah “Aaron” Bandanadam from the St. Anthony of Padula Catholic Church, and her cousin Chuck Persico come to Edie’s side Thursday morning, and they gave her their final blessings and prayers. “We were just there, saying ‘we love you’ and kissing her forehead, and I think that’s what she needed: the blessings and all the love and knew it was finally OK to go,” said Persico. “She was gone by mid-afternoon. I still shake my head and think to myself, ‘did all this really happen?!’ It’s hard to wrap your head around everything that we’ve been through with Edie, not to mention all the celebrating and press and attention these last few years especially, all celebrating our Edie. It’s been wonderful.” Two events are planned at the St. Anthony of Padula Catholic Church, located at 61 West San Francisco Avenue: a Rosary Prayer Service on Friday, March 15 at 5:30 pm and a Mass held the following day, Saturday, March 16 at 2 pm. The public is welcome to attend these events. A community gathering, with light refreshments – and of course Edie’s favorite vice: glasses with two fingers of red wine! – will take place at the Willits Senior Center on Satu

I’m sure this is the most lovely article and reflection on the very final days of any supercentenarian, that I’ve ever read.. 

And thank you for finding and posting it MrCatlord.

https://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/news/willits-says-goodbye-to-edie-ceccarelli-towns116-year-old-celebrity-of-lo/

Willits says goodbye to Edie Ceccarelli, town’s116-year-old celebrity of longevity

Willits picked a perfect weekend — glowing, mild, enlivening — to bid farewell to the central Mendocino County town’s adored celebrity of longevity, Edith “Edie” Ceccarelli.

The past few days couldn’t have been better for the public gatherings that blessed, buried and celebrated Ceccarelli and her historically long and vital life.

How fitting for the fun-loving, highly sociable woman who through 116 astonishing years had more very good days, it seems safe to say, than most of the rest of us have days of any sort.

“Edie was truly a one-of-a-kind person who enjoyed life to its fullest,” Lee Persico, a second cousin of Ceccarelli, said in his eulogy Saturday. As Persico spoke at the lectern, sunbeams brightened the stained-glass windows of St. Anthony’s of Padua Catholic Church in Willits.

During the open-mic portion of the funeral mass, longtime friend Tana Craighead, 63, recalled taking Ceccarelli to Las Vegas when she was in her early 90s and watching in amazement as she danced in heels until about 1 a.m.

“Edie was up for anything,” Craighead said.

Ceccarelli made headlines far and wide in recent years. Simply by waking morning after morning, dressing nicely and savoring another breakfast, the Willits native set or seriously challenged state, national and world records.

Over the past year or so, she became the oldest living American, the oldest verified California resident in the history of the state, and the second-oldest person on the planet.

People from Willits and beyond gathered by the hundreds this past Feb. 4 for a rainy-day parade heralding Ceccarelli’s 116th birthday, which came the following day.

To live to 116 isn’t just impressive, it’s epic, almost unheard of. Gerontology scientists have validated that no more than about 30 human beings have reached or exceeded that age – ever.

On Ceccarelli’s birthday Feb. 5, just two of the estimated 8 billion people on Earth were 116. The world’s current longest-living person, Maria Branyas Morera, who was born in 1907 to Spanish parents in San Francisco but has lived most of her life in Spain, turned 117 on March 4.

Edie Ceccarelli enjoyed extraordinary health and vitality for most of her life. She was still dancing at 102 and she didn’t move from her Willits home into an eldercare residence until 107.

But in recent months, she several times showed little or no interest in eating, which was highly unusual for her. And she was sleeping more.

She was 116 years and 17 days old when she passed away in her sleep on Feb. 22 at the six-bed Holy Ghost Residential Care Home.

She was buried on Friday afternoon at her family plot at Willits Cemetery.

Near her grave are those of her first husband, Elmer “Brick” Keenan, for 36 years a Press Democrat typesetter, and her parents, Italian immigrants Maria and Agostino Recagno.

The Recagnos gave birth to seven children in Willits, Edith Rose being their first. She would outlive all of her siblings, none of whom lived to age 100.

Well before she qualified as a supercentenarian by turning 110, Edie Ceccarelli was celebrated in Willits for her kindness, verve and generosity, and for the style and class she was famous for.

“She was a perfect dresser,” businessman, community leader and longtime friend Bruce Burton told the crowd Saturday afternoon at a post-funeral reception at the Willits Senior Center. “And she was a flirt!”

Burton reminded the gathering that Ceccarelli was born in 1908 and personally witnessed what many today regard as ancient history. Burton recalled Ceccarelli telling him she remembered walking on Baechtel Road one day and listening to the pealing of every church bell in town.

It was Nov. 11, 1918. The first World War had ended and people around the world celebrated the armistice. Edith Rose Recagno was 10½ years old.

Burton noted also at the reception that young Edith grew up to be a disciplined investor. She recommended the purchase of annuities, which involve giving money to a company in return for the promise of lifetime payments.

“Of course she liked annuities!” Burton said. The companies that sent her monthly payments surely did not count on those benefits continuing to age 116.

One way of looking at how extraordinary it is for Ceccarelli to have reached that age: Life expectancy for American women stands now at about 79 years. Ceccarelli lived nearly 50 percent longer than that.

Along the way, she offered what might be history’s greatest piece of advice for living — not only very long but very happily, “Have two fingers of red wine with dinner, and mind your own business.”

Amid his remarks at Saturday’s celebration of Ceccarelli’s life, Burton, the founder of Willits Redwood Company, said that in February the town was hoping to see her “make it up the next rung” and attain age 117.

Though that won’t happen, Burton said he and his town are grateful to have witnessed parts of Ceccarelli’s most remarkable life. “It was fun to be part of it,” he said.

Burton said also, “We all owe her a big thanks for the great publicity she brought to Willits.” Her last birthday was covered by ABC World News, the Guardian and the New York Times.

It’s conceivable that one day the correct answer to this question could win a trivia contest: What do record-holding supercentenarian Edie Ceccarelli and champion thoroughbred racehorse Seabiscuit have in common?

Both had astonishing runs, and both rest now and forever in Willits.