Oldest Woman In America Dies At 114

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The New York Sun

Verona Johnston, recognized as the oldest person in America at 114, died Wednesday at her home in Worthington, Ohio.


Among her final words were, “Dying is hard, but everyone has to do it, and I hope I do it well,” her daughter reported.


A native of Iowa, Johnston moved to Ohio at age 98 to live with relatives.


She was born August 6, 1890, in Indianola, Iowa. She was the eighth of nine children born to a Civil War veteran.


Johnston taught Latin in high schools across Iowa. She married Harry Johnston, an Iowa physician who died in 1970.


The oldest living American is now Bettie Wilson of Mississippi, and Hendrikje Van Andel of the Netherlands is the world’s oldest person, according to the Gerontology Research Group. Both are 114.


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