11 February 2024 makes a 120 years anniversary since her birth. RIP.

The fact that she was a distant relative of Jeanne Calment makes sense why she lived so long.

@record_116 why would that be an explanatory factor? Fifth-cousins share 0.05% (1/2000) of their DNA on average. Calment and Randon were not even fifth-, but eighth-cousins twice removed. For two European individuals with grandparents from roughly the same region, it's more likely to have a common ancestor in the early 17th century than not.

You're missed, dear Sister André. Rest in peace.

@024tomi Thank you for detailed explanation. Alright, I heard the information that the two were being 8th-cousin twice removed, it feel me unusual at first glance.

I recall an example of post where a member said "I were distantly related to Queen Elizabeth II", but after that other member pointed out that such a thing could have happened universally.

Rest in peace Lucile Randon, you were an amazing World Oldest Person.

@Tomi : I totally agree with you, but that is really improbable/unlikely that the 2 oldest french EVER are distant cousin !

@sylsyl I'd argue it's not a coincidence that the two oldest French individuals ever were from the same region (in this case in the proximity of the Gulf of Lion) given that besides them, three out of the other seven European supercentenarians who reached 116 also lived there.

And as I explained, since they hailed from the same region, and their recent ancestors on all sides also lived there, it's basically inevitable that they would have common ancestors only a few hundred years back in time.

With that said, I'd like to emphasise that the French genealogists who discovered how Calment and Randon are related made an admirable work. But we should look at this as fun trivia rather than assuming this explains their extreme longevity – it doesn't. 

In no case can we say with certainty that Lucile Randon's distant relationship with Jeanne Calment is the reason for her extreme longevity without more evidence, but on the other hand, it is not a completely improbable scenario.

We are not just talking about the two oldest women in France, but about the two of the four (validated) oldest in world history and actually outliers. Jeanne reached the age of 122 when no one else has yet reached 120 and Lucile was less than 1 month away from her 119th birthday when the 5th oldest person "just" reached 117 years, 260 days. it is really a great coincidence that they were born in such close areas.

Despite the proximity of the birthplace means as you say that individuals with grandparents from roughly the same region, it's more likely to have a common ancestor than not, it is an additional important element to know for sure that they are indeed distantly but traceably connected. So what are the chances of 2 of the 4 world history’s outliers to be related even as distant cousins? Average shared DNA might be a very small percentage but inheritance is random and Calment-Randon could theoretically be more connected than the average or having both inherited a crucial common genetic block.

After all, given their outlier status we already know that they had won the genetic lottery in some way-if they did it the same way it is very difficult to tell based just in genealogy, but i think their distant relation has some possible interest beyond being merely a fun fact.

Maybe what we could say is that they both shared some longevity gene. Saying Lucile lived so long "because" of Jeanne doesn't make sense, if Calment had died at 60 it would have little to no effect on Lucile's longevity

Remembering Sister Andre on what would have been her 120th birthday.

Posted by: @mrcatlord

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Maybe what we could say is that they both shared some longevity gene. Saying Lucile lived so long "because" of Jeanne doesn't make sense, if Calment had died at 60 it would have little to no effect on Lucile's longevity

Certainly, Lucile’s longevity isn’t a product of Jeanne’s longevity, but it just about possible that both instances of extreme longevity where at the least influenced by the same genetic factors, though this is by no means a guarantee, due to the distance of their relationship.

Hi dear @simon-frogg , your signature are outdated ... It is written as if Lucile Randon were still alive.

@record_116 Thank you for bringing this to my attention, I must’ve have forgotten to edit my signature here. I’ll update it to reflect Lucile’s sad passing.