Steph Deschamps / January 18, 2023
The French sister André, who was the dean of humanity known since April, died in her sleep Monday night in her retirement home in Toulon, southern France, announced to AFP Tuesday evening.
She passed away at 2:00 am. There is a great sadness but she wanted it, it was her desire to join her beloved brother. For her, it is a liberation", explained David Tavella, in charge of communication at the Etablissement d'hébergement pour personnes âgées dépendante Sainte-Catherine-Labouré where she resided.
No official organization grants the title of dean, but specialists agree that Sister André was the oldest living person whose civil status had been verified.
The Guinness Book of World Records also set this record on April 25, after the death of the Japanese Kane Tanaka at 119 years.
For several years, she did not hide a certain weariness: she wished "to withdraw from this business". But "the good God does not hear me", she confided to the AFP who had met her for a long time in January 2022.
Nailed to a wheelchair, blind, Sister André, born Lucile Randon on February 11, 1904 in Alès (Gard), regretted having lost some of her physical abilities.
"They say that work kills, but it was work that kept me alive, I worked until I was 108 years old," she said in April 2022 when she was made the oldest person in the world, after having been the oldest person in France and then in Europe.