Community Corner
Spotlight on World's Oldest Person Moves to Iowa
With the passing of Monroe's Besse Cooper, the world spotlight turns to Iowa, home to Johnston's Dina Manfredini who, at 115, is now the world's oldest living person on record.
Walton County has been proud of the distinction of being home to the world's oldest person since June 2011 when Besse Cooper took the title. Cooper's family had the responsibility of shielding her from the media for the past few years, affording her the opportunity to live our her final years in relative seclusion in a Monroe nursing home. That came to an end last week with Cooper's funeral in Monroe on Saturday following her death on Dec. 4, 2012 at the age of 116 years, 100 day.
The title of world's oldest person has now officially been passed on to Iowa's Dina Manfredini. And with the title, comes the responsibility of those around her of protection from the glow of the media spotlight. Like Cooper, it is reported that she too spends much of her day sleeping. A recent story by Ashlee Kieler of Johnston Patch in Iowa gave a little background to the new world's oldest living person.
Manfredini has seen a lot of history: She was born before the Wright Brother's fateful flight, she was 15 years old when the Titanic sank.
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As of Tuesday, Dec. 4, 2012, Manfredini became the oldest living person in the world. Manfredini is 115 years old and lives in Johnston, Iowa.
This spring, Manfredini's family threw a birthday party in her honor at the Bishop Drumm Retirement Center in Johnston, according to WHO TV.
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Manfredini, who was born on April 4, 1897, in Italy, is healthy and strong according to an August 2011 article by the Diocese of Des Moines.
Having lived during a portion of three centuries, Manfredini has surely seen much in her lifetime.
She lived through World War I in Europe, before moving to the United States in 1920.
She went to work in the 1940s at a plant in Ankney to support her family throughout World War II and the Great Depression.
Today, according to the Diocese article, Manfredini's hearing isn't very good but she can move around her retirement community with the help of a walker.
A Facebook page for Manfredini said she is also the oldest living Italian person in the world.
She moved to Des Moines in 1920 to be with her husband, Riccardo Manfredini, who died in 1965, according to the Diocese's article.
The couple raised four children.
In the 2010 Census there were 53,365 centenarians, people 100 and older, living in the United States.
Get the full story on Johnston Patch.
