On January 28 at 10 p.m. the world’s oldest woman, Emma Faust Tillman, passed away at 114 years old. She was the world’s oldest women according to the Guiness Book of World Records. Tillman had resided at the Riverside Health and Rehabilitation Center, a nursing home in Hartford, Connecticut since she was 110.

Tillman became the world’s oldest person after the death of Emiliano Mercada del Toro of Puerto Rico.

Because of her recent death, her term of the world’s oldest living person was the shortest on record.

Her successor, Yone Minagawa, is now considered the world’s oldest woman pending verification. She is a Japanese woman and is 114 years old. She was born on January 4, 1893.

Tillman was the daughter of slaves following the United States Civil War. She was born in North Carolina on November 22, 1892. She had 23 siblings and a few lived for more than one hundred years.

Her family moved to Glastonbury, North Carolina in 1900 because of the dangers in the south during the civil rights movement. They found work at a tobacco farm.

Tillman was an average student who sang for her church choir and liked to play shortstop during baseball games.

Tillman married and then moved to Hartford, Connecticut, where she remained unmarried for 70 years following the death of her husband. She lived by herself until she reached 110, when she moved to a nursing home.

Tillman’s great-nephew John Stewart Jr., claimed that she never smoked, drank, or even wore glasses.

Even in recent years Tillman had spent much of her time involved in the Metropolitan A.M.E. Zion Church.

“The last thing she said was, ‘Don’t forget my love for the church,’” said Stewart.

Tillman would like to be remembered for living a good Christian life, not for being the oldest person on earth.

Tillman was alive to see many changes and advancements in the United States and is considered by many to be extremely lucky.

According to Stewart, she was very much aware of what was happening during her final days. She was very accepting and ready for death.

(Some information courtesy of news.yahoo.com and courant.com.)