Oldest American dies aged 114 at home in Ohio
America’s oldest person, a 114-year-old woman who voted in every election since women earned the right in 1920 and had the thinnest file in her doctor’s office, has died.
Verona Johnston died yesterday at home in Worthington, Ohio, said her daughter, Julie Johnson.
“She just wore out,” Johnson said. “She was still very sharp up until a few months ago.”
Johnston moved from her native Iowa to Ohio at age 98 to live with Johnson and her husband, both in their 80s. She still considered Iowa home.
Johnson said her mother was “ready to go” and that shortly before her death she said: “Dying is hard, but everyone has to do it, and I hope I do it well.”
Johnston voted in every election since women earned the right in 1920, even casting an absentee ballot in November.
Johnston lived a wholesome life, rarely visited doctors and never used the deductible on her health insurance policy, relatives said. The secretary at her doctor’s office said Johnston had the thinnest file on record.
Drake University recognised Johnston as its oldest graduate. Johnston attended the first Drake Relays in 1910, when tuition was $54 ( €41) per year.
Johnston is survived by her four children, who are now all past the age of 70.
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.
Van Andel was born on June 29, 1890, and Wilson was born on September 13 in that year.
