Besse Cooper Explained
Besse Cooper |
Birth Name: | Besse Berry Brown |
Death Date: | (aged)[1] [2] |
Known For: | Oldest living person from June 21, 2011 to December 4, 2012 |
|
Alma Mater: | East Tennessee State Normal School (graduated 1916) |
Spouse: | Luther Cooper |
Children: | 4 |
Besse Berry Cooper (née Brown; August 26, 1896 – December 4, 2012)[2] was an American supercentenarian[3] who was the world's oldest living person from June 21, 2011, until her death in 2012.
Early life, education and career
Cooper was born Besse Berry Brown in Sullivan County, Tennessee, on August 26, 1896, the third of eight children born to Richard Brown (1861–1932) and Angeline Berry (1866–1927).[4] As a child, she did well in school and was an avid reader.[5] She graduated from East Tennessee State Normal School (now East Tennessee State University) in 1916. It was during this period she became a suffragist,[6] and was a teacher in Tennessee before moving to Georgia in 1917.[7] She taught in Between, Georgia, until 1929.
Later life
She married Luther Cooper in 1924, and had four children with him. Luther died aged 68 in December 1963. Following her husband's death, Cooper lived alone on their farm until 2001, when she moved into a nursing home at the age of 105.[8] She spent her final years in Monroe, Georgia.[9] Cooper died of respiratory failure on December 4, 2012, after contracting stomach flu.[10]
Longevity
Cooper became Georgia's oldest resident on January 19, 2009, following the death of 113-year-old Beatrice Farve.[11] She was thought to be the world's oldest living person after the death of Eunice Sanborn on January 31, 2011[12] until May 18, 2011, when Brazil's Maria Gomes Valentim was verified as older.[13] On June 21, 2011, Maria Gomes Valentim died, and Cooper became the world's oldest living person.[14] Cooper reportedly attributed her longevity to "minding her own business" and avoiding junk food.[15]
At the time of her 116th birthday in August 2012, Cooper had four children, 11 grandchildren, 13 great-grandchildren and two great-great-grandchildren.[16] [17] In July 2012, a proposal was advanced to name a Georgia bridge in Cooper's honor; a bridge in Between, Georgia, was named Besse Brown Cooper Bridge on August 24, 2012.[14] [18] [19] [20] In October 2013, Cooper's grandson Paul Cooper founded the Besse Brown Cooper Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to "providing financial, legal, medical and public relations support" for supercentenarians worldwide.[21]
See also
External links
Notes and References
- Web site: World's Oldest Woman Dies at 116. Loganville-Grayson Patch. December 4, 2012. December 5, 2012. dead. https://archive.today/20130111071559/http://loganville.patch.com/articles/world-s-oldest-woman-dies-at-116. January 11, 2013. mdy-all.
- Web site: World's 'oldest person' Besse Cooper dies aged 116. BBC. December 5, 2012. December 5, 2012.
- Web site: World's oldest person dies at age 116. CNN. December 5, 2012.
- News: Oldest American dies . . March 9, 2010 . . 3.
- Web site: Dennis. Joe. Cooper marks 108th birthday. Walton Tribune. August 29, 2004. August 30, 2012.
- Web site: World's oldest person dies at age 116 . 2012-12-05 . . https://web.archive.org/web/20230408002348/https://www.cnn.com/2012/12/04/us/georgia-oldest-person-dies/index.html . 2023-04-08 . live .
- Web site: World's oldest person is a graduate of what is now ETSU . February 1, 2011 . October 4, 2012 . Johnson City Press . Brooks, James . October 1, 2011 . https://web.archive.org/web/20111001162652/http://www.johnsoncitypress.com/News/article.php?ID=86088 . dead .
- News: Birthday kiss for a centenarian. August 27, 2009. . B1.
- http://waltontribune.com/news/article_436636a4-5a53-11e0-b9d8-001cc4c002e0.html "Governor visits Besse"
- Besse Cooper, World's Oldest Person, Dies at Age 116. Time. December 5, 2012. July 6, 2013.
- News: At 111, she's second oldest in Georgia. Milligan, Stephen . Walton Tribune . August 26, 2007 . April 6, 2010.
- News: World's oldest woman Eunice Sanborn dies in US at 114. BBC News. 31 January 2011. May 22, 2022.
- News: Brazilian woman aged 114 is world's oldest person. Yapp, Robin. May 18, 2011. The Daily Telegraph. August 16, 2012.
- Web site: Swanepoel. Sharon. Sweet 116th Birthday Wishes to the World's Oldest Living Person. Loganville-Grayson Patch. August 26, 2012. August 27, 2012. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20120831063153/http://loganville.patch.com/articles/happy-sweet-116th-birthday-to-the-worlds-oldest-living-person. August 31, 2012. mdy-all.
- Web site: A look back at 2011. Walton Tribune . January 1, 2012. January 20, 2012.
- News: Cooper continues to make history. Walton Tribune . August 29, 2012. February 7, 2013. Milligan, Stephen.
- News: Bridge naming for World's oldest person . Walton Tribune . August 22, 2012 . Schwartz, Robbie. June 26, 2013.
- Web site: Effort to name bridge for Besse Cooper. Walton Tribune. July 1, 2012. July 31, 2012.
- Web site: Dedication of Besse Cooper Bridge Scheduled for Friday. Loganville-Grayson Patch. August 23, 2012. February 20, 2014.
- Web site: Bridge dedicated to world's oldest person. Walton Tribune. August 24, 2012. August 25, 2012.
- Web site: About us. Besse Brown Cooper Foundation. 2013. October 20, 2014. October 26, 2014. https://web.archive.org/web/20141026091303/http://www.bessebrowncooper.org/about_us.html. dead.