CAMDEN, Ark. (KTHV/AP/USAToday) – Camden's Gertrude Weaver is now officially being recognized as the oldest person on Earth, according to Guinness World Book of Records.
Weaver will celebrate her 117th birthday on July 4 of this year; she was born in 1898.
The daughter of sharecroppers who witnessed the Civil War, Gertrude Weaver was born in southwest Arkansas near the border with Texas and was married in 1915,according to the Associated Press. She and her husband had four children, all of whom have died except for a son, now in his 90s.
Weaver lives at Silver Oaks Health and Rehabilitation, a nursing home in Camden, Ark., about two hours southwest of the state's capital city, Little Rock.
According to an article in Time magazine, some of the highlights of Weaver's week are manicures, Bible study and "wheelchair dancing," which she does three times a week. "We chair dance because we can't get up anymore," Weaver told Time. She is also visited regularly by friends and her granddaughter Gradie Welch, who is nearly 80. "She is a loving and compassionate grandmother," Welch told the magazine.
So how has she lived so long? "Kindness," she told Time. "Treat people right and be nice to other people the way you want them to be nice to you."
Also, she says, it helps to have strong religious beliefs. "You have to follow God. Don't follow anyone else," she told the local Camden News. "Be obedient and follow the laws and don't worry about anything. I've followed Him for many, many years and I ain't tired."
Weaver's new title comes after the world's oldest person, a Japanese woman, died Wednesday, a few weeks after celebrating her 117th birthday.
Misao Okawa died of heart failure and stopped breathing as her grandson and nursing home workers stood by her side, praising her for achieving a healthy long life, said Tomohiro Okada, an official at her Osaka nursing home.
"She went so peacefully, as if she had just fallen asleep," Okada said. "We miss her a lot."
Okawa, born in Osaka on March 5, 1898, was recognized as the world's oldest person by Guinness World Records in 2013.
Okada said Okawa lost her appetite about 10 days ago.
Okawa, the daughter of a kimono maker, said at her birthday celebration that her life seemed rather short.
Okawa married her husband, Yukio, in 1919, and they had two daughters and a son. She was survived by four grandchildren and six great-grandchildren. Her husband died in 1931.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
