Oldest American, New Jersey’s Adele Dunlap, Dies at Age 114
Adele Dunlap, the oldest person in America, has died at age 114.
The New Jersey supercentenarian died Sunday at a hospital near Flemington, according to her obituary shared by Martin Funeral Home.
In July 2016, Dunlap became the country’s oldest person.
“She never went out jogging or anything like that,” her son, Earl Dunlap Jr., said about his mother at the time, according to the Associated Press. “She’s not really thin, but she never weighed more than 140 pounds. She smoked, and when my father had his first heart attack, they both stopped. I think she ate anything she wanted.”
Dunlap was born on December 12, 1902, the same year Theodore Roosevelt was president, the nation’s first movie theater opened, and when Cuba gained independence from the U.S.
Dunlap was a school teacher for five years before marrying husband Earl and raising their daughter and two sons.
At 99 ½ years old, she entered Country Arch Care Center where she later celebrated her 114th birthday and became the eldest resident at the facility.
She is survived by her two sons, six grandchildren, fifteen great-grandchildren and three great-great grandchildren. Dunlap was predeceased by her daughter, grandson and husband Earl, who died in 1963.
The oldest known person living in the U.S. now is 113-year-old Delphine Gibson of Pennsylvania, according to the Gerontology Research Group.
