Thaindian News

Mar 9 (THAINDIAN NEWS) The oldest person in the United States, and the second oldest in the entire world, has passed away peacefully in her sleep at the age of 114 years. Mary Josephine Ray died in her bed at a Nursing Home in Westmoreland, New Hampshire.

Ray was born on May 17, 1895 in Bloomfield, Prince Edward Island, Canada. She moved to the United States at the age of three. After living in Maine for almost 60 years, Ray moved to New Hampshire when she was 102 years old, to be near her son and his family. She was named the oldest person in the US, and the second oldest in the world, last November after a woman in upstate New York, Gertrude Baines, died at the age of 114 years on September 11, 2009. The oldest known living person in the whole world is Kama, Chinen, who lives in Japan, and was born one week before Ray.

Ray is the oldest recorded person to ever be born in Prince Edward Island, and the oldest ever to live in New Hampshire. (The oldest person ever born in New Hampshire was Nellie Spencer who lived between 1869-1982, to the ripe old age of 113. Ray was also the third oldest person ever born in Canada. Neva Morris of Ames, Iowa is now the oldest living person in the United States and second oldest in the world.

Mary Josephine Ray lost her husband in 1957. She is survived by her two sons, eight grandchildren, thirteen great grandchildren, and five great-great grandchildren. Her grand daughter, Katherine Ray said that she was still a vigorous woman all the way up until her last couple of weeks. “She just enjoyed life. She never thought of dying at all,” Katherine Ray said. “She was planning for her birthday party.”