World’s oldest person dies weeks before her 117th birthday

by Mick the Ram

The honour of being the oldest person in the world has changed hands again following the death of Sister Inah Canabarro Lucas, who passed away in the city of Porto Alegre at a home belonging to the Teresian Sisters, the religious community she was part of.

The Brazilian nun and teacher, who would have turned an incredible 117 on 27 May, was a huge football fan and her family took great pleasure in telling people she always celebrated her birthday with a cake in the shape of the stadium of her beloved Sport Club Internacional – Porto Alegre’s football team.

She had taken the title off a French nun, Lucile Randon, who was better known as Sister Andre, when she died aged 118 in 2023 and now with her passing from natural causes, Ethel Caterham, a 115-year-old British women, takes over the mantle.

Religious vocation

The Congregation of Teresian Sisters announced Canabarro’s passing in a statement in which it gave thanks for the “dedication and devotion” she had shown in life.

She was born 8 June 1908 in the southern Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul and had a religious vocation from early on in her life, joining a church-going boarding school at the age of 16.

She lived in the Uruguayan capital, Montevideo, for some time before taking her vows, but returned to Brazil in 1930, where she taught Portuguese and maths at a school in Rio. 

Amazing health

Becoming a nun in 1934 at the age of 26, in between the two World Wars, she had attributed her longevity to God, saying: “He is the secret of life; he is the secret of everything,” although as a child the Sister was apparently so thin that many people didn’t believe she could survive into adulthood.

Those health concerns proved unfounded as the nun did not have any surgeries until she underwent a cataract operation aged 106.

Liked a routine

Her family said that she could not hear or see very well towards the end of her life, but that she enjoyed sticking to a routine. “She liked to get up, eat, pray and sleep at the same time each day,” her relatives told Brazilian TV. 

She was said to be good humoured, very grateful and never complained. Her football team of which she owned several shirts and a collection of pillows adorned with the club logo, posted their condolences, saying: “it is with enormous sadness we learn of her passing”.

British women takes over title

So Ethel May Caterham now becomes officially the oldest living person at the age of 115 years and 253 days (at the time of Canabarro’s passing). 

Ethel was born on 21 August, 1909, in Hampshire, before being raised across the county border in Wiltshire. She was the second youngest of eight children and one of her sisters Gladys Babilas also reached a century, having been born in 1897 and living to the age of 104.

She has seen six different UK monarchs and 27 prime ministers. 

Out-lived daughters

Ethel was 18 when she travelled alone by ship for three weeks to take up a job as an au pair to a military family in India. She returned three years later in 1931 to Britain, where she met her future husband Norman Caterham and they married at Salisbury Cathedral, in 1933. 

They eventually settled in Surrey where they had two daughters, before he passed away in 1976 – almost 50 years ago. Both their children have also died. 

Still some years off the record

The world’s longest-living person ever is officially said to have been Jeanne Calment, who died at the age of 122 and 164 days. She had been born in Arles, France, on 21 February 1875 and died in the same city on 4 August 1997.

Her unparalleled longevity has been the subject of numerous studies, both before and after her death and she even took up fencing as a hobby at the tender age of 85!

Ms Calment also claimed to have met the artist Vincent van Gogh, to whom she sold painting canvasses in her father’s shop as a teenager. Showing her great sense of humour, she described him as “ugly as sin” and said he had a “vile temper and smelled of booze”. 

She also continued smoking until she was 117, which was not received greatly by those pushing for a ban.