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Susie GibsonSusie (Potts) Gibson was born Oct. 31, 1890 in Corinth, Mississippi, according to the 1900 census. Susie claims that she was born in 1889, and though her social security record lists her as born Oct. 31, 1889, proof older than the 1900 census has not been located. The Jan 1920 census lists Susie as age 29, also supporting the 1890 birth year. Susie Potts married James W. Gibson in 1915, and they moved to northwest Alabama, settling in Sheffield. He died in the 1950's and her only son, James Jr, died in 1987, aged 70. By this time, Susie was already 96 years old--and now living alone (though she had surviving grandchildren). Had the story ended here, Susie's age would have been remarkable locally, but certainly not on a national or international level. However, Susie didn't stop there. She lived on her own until age 104, when she moved into a nursing home. Ten years later she was still there, aged 114, in great shape, and one of the world's oldest people. In November 2004 Susie was interviewed at age 114, and was able to talk more than an hour, remembering such things as the sinking of the Titanic in 1912, or that horse-drawn carriages would get stuck in the mud. By age 114 (claimed 115), Susie was old enough to be the world's oldest person, but by a quirk of statistics, there just happened to be a large field of candidates at the same time. As of early November 2004, Susie ranked just 7th on the "world's oldest person" list, even though Hendrikje Van Andel-Schipper of the Netherlands had taken the world title on May 29, 2004 at a mere 113 years, 335 days. in addition, Susie claimed to be one year older, but the family Bible has not been located to back up such a claim. By April 2005 Susie Gibson moved up to 5th-oldest in the world after the passings of E Verona Johnston (Aug 6, 1890-Dec 1, 2004) of Ohio and Anna Primout (Oct 15, 1890-Mar 26, 2005) of France, and had moved into the all-time top 40 oldest verified persons.
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