The world’s oldest living person, who enjoyed chocolate and a daily glass of wine, died early Tuesday.
French nun Sister Andre was 118, which gave her the crown for oldest person across the globe in April 2022, before her death this week.
She was born as Lucile Randon on Feb. 11, 1904 – the same year Theodore Roosevelt was elected president – and was a teacher and governess who looked after children during World War II.
She then spent almost three decades working with orphans and taking care of the elderly at a French hospital before she became a Catholic nun in 1944.
Living through the Spanish flu pandemic of 1918, she easily fended off a bout with COVID-19 in 2021. She tested positive for the virus at her nursing home, but didn’t show any symptoms.
At the time, she said she didn’t mind dying when asked if she feared COVID.
“No, I wasn’t scared because I wasn’t scared to die… I’m happy to be with you, but I would wish to be somewhere else – join my big brother and my grandfather and my grandmother,” she told France’s BFM television.
She was crowned the oldest person by the Guinness World Record after Kane Tanaka, Japan, died in April 2022. Tanaka was 119-years-old at the time of her death.
While living well into triple digits, Sister Andre still indulged in sweets with chocolate a guilty pleasure of hers. She also had a glass of wine every day with a staff member at her nursing home speculating it was her “longevity secret,” according to the Guinness World Record.
The nun’s spokesperson said her death happened at 2 a.m. local time near Toulon in France, according to CNN.
“There is great sadness, but she wanted it to happen, it was her desire to join her beloved brother. For her, it is freedom,” spokesperson David Tavella reportedly said.
The mayor of Toulon, Hubert Falco, said in a series of tweets that France lost a nun with a big heart, who had immense wisdom and love for others.
She was at the Sainte Catherine Labouré nursing home for more than a decade before she died.