Supercentenarians in the United States

American supercentenarians are citizens or residents of the United States who have attained or surpassed 110 years of age. As of January 2015 ^[update] , the Gerontology Research Group (GRG) had validated the longevity claims of 782 American supercentenarians. ^[1] As of 10 August 2021, the GRG lists the oldest living American as Thelma Sutcliffe (born in Benson, Omaha, Nebraska, October 1, 1906), aged 114 years, 313 days. ^[2] The longest-lived person ever from the United States was Sarah Knauss, of Hollywood, Pennsylvania, who died on December 30, 1999, aged 119 years, 97 days. ^{[3] [4]}

100 oldest known Americans

Below is a list of the longest lived American supercentenarians according to the GRG. ^{[1] [5]}

  Deceased  Living

Top 100 longest-lived Americans

Rank	Name	Sex	Birth date	Death date	Age	Birthplace	Place of death or residence
01	Sarah Knauss [1]	F	September 24, 1880	December 30, 1999	119 years, 97 days	Pennsylvania	Pennsylvania
02	Susannah Mushatt Jones [5]	F	July 6, 1899	May 12, 2016	116 years, 311 days	Alabama	New York
03	Gertrude Weaver [5]	F	July 4, 1898	April 6, 2015	116 years, 276 days	Arkansas	Arkansas
04	Elizabeth Bolden [1]	F	August 15, 1890	December 11, 2006	116 years, 118 days	Tennessee	Tennessee
05	Besse Cooper [5]	F	August 26, 1896	December 4, 2012	116 years, 100 days	Tennessee	Georgia
06	Jeralean Talley [5]	F	May 23, 1899	June 17, 2015	116 years, 25 days	Georgia	Michigan
07	Maggie Barnes [1]	F	March 6, 1882	January 19, 1998	115 years, 319 days	North Carolina	North Carolina
08	Dina Manfredini [5]	F	April 4, 1897	December 17, 2012	115 years, 257 days	Italy	Iowa
09	Christian Mortensen [1]	M	August 16, 1882	April 25, 1998	115 years, 252 days	Denmark	California
10	Hester Ford [6]	F	August 15, 1905	April 17, 2021	115 years, 245 days	South Carolina	North Carolina
11	Edna Parker [5]	F	April 20, 1893	November 26, 2008	115 years, 220 days	Indiana	Indiana
12	Margaret Skeete [1]	F	October 27, 1878	May 7, 1994	115 years, 192 days	Texas	Virginia
13	Bernice Madigan [5]	F	July 24, 1899	January 3, 2015	115 years, 163 days	Massachusetts	Massachusetts
14	Gertrude Baines [5]	F	April 6, 1894	September 11, 2009	115 years, 158 days	Georgia	California
15	Bettie Wilson [1]	F	September 13, 1890	February 13, 2006	115 years, 153 days	Mississippi	Mississippi
16	Iris Westman [5]	F	August 28, 1905	January 3, 2021 [7]	115 years, 128 days	North Dakota	North Dakota
17	Marie Josephine Gaudette aka Mother Cecilia [5]	F	March 25, 1902	July 13, 2017	115 years, 110 days	New Hampshire	Italy
18	Susie Gibson [1]	F	October 31, 1890	February 16, 2006	115 years, 108 days	Mississippi	Alabama
19	Augusta Holtz [5]	F	August 3, 1871	October 21, 1986	115 years, 79 days	Prussia [lower-alpha 1]	Missouri
20	Maude Farris-Luse [1]	F	January 21, 1887	March 18, 2002	115 years, 56 days	Michigan	Michigan
21	Antonia Gerena Rivera [5]	F	May 19, 1900	June 2, 2015	115 years, 14 days	Puerto Rico [lower-alpha 2]	Florida
22	Mary Bidwell [1]	F	May 19, 1881	April 25, 1996	114 years, 342 days	Connecticut	Connecticut
23	Thelma Sutcliffe [2]	F	October 1, 1906	Living	114 years, 313 days	Nebraska	Nebraska
24	Mary Josephine Ray [5]	F	May 17, 1895	March 7, 2010	114 years, 294 days	Canada	New Hampshire
25	Goldie Steinberg [5]	F	October 30, 1900	August 16, 2015	114 years, 290 days	Moldova [lower-alpha 3]	New York
26	Delphine Gibson [5]	F	August 17, 1903	May 9, 2018	114 years, 265 days	South Carolina	Pennsylvania
27	Neva Morris [5]	F	August 3, 1895	April 6, 2010	114 years, 246 days	Iowa	Iowa
28	Blanche Cobb [5]	F	September 8, 1900	May 1, 2015	114 years, 235 days	Georgia	Florida
29	Mathew Beard [1]	M	July 9, 1870	February 16, 1985	114 years, 222 days	Virginia	Florida
30	Carrie Lazenby [1]	F	February 9, 1882	September 14, 1996	114 years, 218 days	Georgia	Illinois
31	Myrtle Dorsey [1]	F	November 22, 1885	June 25, 2000	114 years, 216 days	Ohio	Ohio
32	Walter Breuning [5]	M	September 21, 1896	April 14, 2011	114 years, 205 days	Minnesota	Montana
33	Eunice Sanborn [5]	F	July 20, 1896	January 31, 2011	114 years, 195 days	Louisiana	Texas
34	Grace Clawson [1]	F	November 15, 1887	May 28, 2002	114 years, 194 days	United Kingdom	New York
35	Wilhelmina Kott [1]	F	March 7, 1880	September 6, 1994	114 years, 183 days	Illinois	Illinois
	Adelina Domingues [1]	F	February 19, 1888	August 21, 2002		Cape Verde [lower-alpha 4]	California
37	Lucy Mirigian [5]	F	August 15, 1906	February 12, 2021	114 years, 181 days	Armenia [lower-alpha 5]	California
38	Charlotte Benkner [1]	F	November 16, 1889	May 14, 2004	114 years, 180 days	Germany	Ohio
39	Ettie Mae Greene [1]	F	September 8, 1877	February 26, 1992	114 years, 171 days	West Virginia	West Virginia
40	María Brañas Morera [2]	F	March 4, 1907	Living	114 years, 159 days	California	Spain
41	Dominga Velasco [5]	F	May 12, 1901	October 11, 2015	114 years, 152 days	Mexico	California
42	Irene Frank [1]	F	October 1, 1881	February 28, 1996	114 years, 150 days	Texas	Missouri
43	Olivia Patricia Thomas [5]	F	June 29, 1895	November 16, 2009	114 years, 140 days	Iowa	New York
	Alelia Murphy [5]	F	July 6, 1905	November 23, 2019		North Carolina	New York
45	Anna Henderson [5]	F	March 5, 1900	July 1, 2014	114 years, 118 days	Georgia	Pennsylvania
46	Emma Verona Johnston [1]	F	August 6, 1890	December 1, 2004	114 years, 117 days	Iowa	Ohio
	Mamie Rearden [1]	F	September 7, 1898	January 2, 2013		South Carolina	Georgia
48	Bettie Chatmon [1]	F	April 30, 1884	August 16, 1998	114 years, 108 days	Louisiana	Texas
	Lessie Brown [5]	F	September 22, 1904	January 8, 2019		Georgia	Ohio
50	Odie Matthews [1]	F	December 28, 1878	April 14, 1993	114 years, 107 days	Texas	Arizona
51	Florence Knapp [1]	F	October 10, 1873	January 11, 1988	114 years, 93 days	Pennsylvania	Pennsylvania
	Elena Slough [1]	F	July 4, 1889	October 5, 2003		Pennsylvania	New Jersey
53	Mary Anna Boone [1]	F	February 10, 1887	May 13, 2001	114 years, 92 days	Kentucky	Kentucky
54	Minnie Whicker [5]	F	July 24, 1906	October 22, 2020	114 years, 90 days	Arkansas	California
55	Delma Kollar [5]	F	October 31, 1897	January 24, 2012	114 years, 85 days	Kansas	Oregon
56	Ila Jones [5]	F	August 21, 1903	November 10, 2017	114 years, 81 days	Georgia	Georgia
57	Maggie Renfro [5]	F	November 14, 1895	January 22, 2010	114 years, 69 days	Louisiana	Louisiana
58	Emma Tillman [1]	F	November 22, 1892	January 28, 2007	114 years, 67 days	North Carolina	Connecticut
	Anna Stoehr [5]	F	October 15, 1900	December 21, 2014		Iowa	Minnesota
60	Leila Denmark [5]	F	February 1, 1898	April 1, 2012	114 years, 60 days	Georgia	Georgia
61	Adele Dunlap [5]	F	December 12, 1902	February 5, 2017	114 years, 55 days	New Jersey	New Jersey
62	Naomi Conner [5]	F	August 30, 1899	October 18, 2013	114 years, 49 days	Texas [9]	Texas
	Ora Holland [5]	F	December 24, 1900	February 11, 2015		Missouri	Oklahoma
64	Ellen Goodwill [5]	F	February 2, 1907	March 2, 2021 [10]	114 years, 28 days	Kentucky	Michigan
65	Grace Thaxton [1]	F	June 18, 1891	July 6, 2005	114 years, 18 days	New York	Kentucky
66	Soledad Mexia [5]	F	August 13, 1899	August 30, 2013	114 years, 17 days	Mexico	California
67	Minnie Ward [1]	F	November 19, 1885	December 2, 1999	114 years, 13 days	Tennessee	Massachusetts
68	Arbella Ewing [5]	F	March 13, 1894	March 22, 2008	114 years, 9 days	Texas	Texas
69	Catherine Hagel [5]	F	November 28, 1894	December 6, 2008	114 years, 8 days	Minnesota	Minnesota
70	Emma Otis [5]	F	October 22, 1901	October 25, 2015	114 years, 3 days	Washington	Washington
71	Maude Harris [2]	F	August 15, 1907	Living	113 years, 360 days	Minnesota	Florida
72	Fred Hale [1]	M	December 1, 1890	November 19, 2004	113 years, 354 days	Maine	New York
73	Miriam Carpelan [1]	F	July 8, 1882	June 22, 1996	113 years, 350 days	United Kingdom	California
	Elsie Thompson [5]	F	April 5, 1899	March 21, 2013		Pennsylvania	Florida
75	Bertha Fry [1]	F	December 1, 1893	November 14, 2007	113 years, 348 days	Indiana	Indiana
76	Mae Harrington [1]	F	January 20, 1889	December 29, 2002	113 years, 343 days	New York	New York
77	Daisey Bailey [5]	F	March 30, 1896	March 7, 2010	113 years, 342 days	Tennessee	Michigan
78	Agatha Mitchell [1]	F	March 26, 1887	February 25, 2001	113 years, 336 days	Virginia	Virginia
79	Goldie Michelson [5]	F	August 8, 1902	July 8, 2016	113 years, 335 days	Ukraine [lower-alpha 6]	Massachusetts
80	Merle Barwis [5]	F	December 23, 1900	November 22, 2014	113 years, 334 days	Iowa	Canada
81	Clara Huhn [1]	F	January 28, 1887	December 20, 2000	113 years, 327 days	Nebraska	California
	Beulah Meloche [5]	F	December 5, 1906	October 27, 2020		New York	New York
83	Corinne Dixon Taylor [1]	F	April 2, 1893	February 14, 2007	113 years, 318 days	District of Columbia	District of Columbia
84	Mary Christian [1]	F	June 12, 1889	April 20, 2003	113 years, 312 days	Massachusetts	California
85	Florence Carroll [5]	F	June 9, 1907	April 15, 2021	113 years, 310 days	New York	Connecticut
86	Ruth Newman [5]	F	September 23, 1901	July 29, 2015	113 years, 309 days	California	California
87	Irene Dutton [5]	F	July 16, 1906	May 15, 2020	113 years, 304 days	Michigan	Michigan
88	Evelyn Kozak [5]	F	August 14, 1899	June 11, 2013	113 years, 301 days	New York	New York
89	Louisiana Hines [5]	F	April 13, 1899	February 1, 2013	113 years, 294 days	Alabama	Michigan
90	Mississippi Wynn [5]	F	March 31, 1897	January 14, 2011	113 years, 289 days	Louisiana	Louisiana
91	Fannie Thomas [1]	F	April 14, 1867	January 22, 1981	113 years, 283 days	Illinois	California
92	Opal Thompson [5]	F	January 13, 1901	October 20, 2014	113 years, 280 days	Oklahoma	California
93	Bessie Hendricks [2]	F	November 7, 1907	Living	113 years, 276 days	Iowa	Iowa
94	Johnson Parks [1]	M	October 15, 1884	July 17, 1998	113 years, 275 days	Georgia	Florida
95	Mary Parr [1]	F	January 29, 1889	October 29, 2002	113 years, 273 days	Indiana	Florida
96	Mila Mangold [2]	F	November 14, 1907	Living	113 years, 269 days	Nebraska	California
97	Beatrice Farve [5]	F	April 30, 1895	January 19, 2009	113 years, 264 days	Georgia	Georgia
98	Amalia Barone [1]	F	October 6, 1884	June 26, 1998	113 years, 263 days	Italy	Connecticut
99	Zora Wriggle [1]	F	February 24, 1880	November 7, 1993	113 years, 256 days	Pennsylvania	Pennsylvania
100	John Ingram McMorran [1]	M	June 19, 1889	February 24, 2003	113 years, 250 days	Michigan	Florida

Biographies

Ann Pouder

Ann Pouder on her 110th birthday; photograph from June 1919 National Geographic magazine

Ann Pouder (born Ann Marie Alexander) (April 8, 1807 – July 10, 1917) was one of the first modernly recognized supercentenarians, living to an age of 110 years, 93 days. ^[11] Born in London, she emigrated with her family to the United States at the age of 12, settling in Baltimore, Maryland, where she lived for 98 more years, the remainder of her life. She married Nepalese American Alexander Pouder, ^{[ citation needed ]} though she became a widow very early and had no children. Her extreme longevity claim was certified by Alexander Graham Bell. ^[12] She was bedridden, blind, and almost deaf in her last few months, but her mind remained sharp. ^[13]

Mary Bidwell

Mary Electa Bidwell (May 19, 1881 – April 25, 1996) ^[14] was an American supercentenarian. She died at age 114 years, 342 days. She is the oldest person on record ever to die in Connecticut. ^{[15] [16] [17]}

Her parents were Charles Woodruff Bidwell and Alice Beach Nobel. ^[16] She was a descendant of John Bidwell, one of the founders of Hartford, Connecticut. Bidwell worked as a teacher in a one-room school house for six years. She married Charles Hubbell Bidwell, a distant cousin, in 1906. ^[15] Bidwell lived on her own in North Haven, Connecticut, until she was 110. Bidwell died at the Arden House, a nursing home in Hamden, Connecticut. ^{[14] [17]}

Maggie Barnes

Maggie Pauline Barnes (née Hinnant; March 6, 1882 – January 19, 1998) ^[18] was an American supercentenarian. She was born to a former slave and married a tenant farmer. Barnes died on January 19, 1998, in Johnston County, North Carolina. ^[19] She was survived by four of her fifteen children. ^[19]

Her date of birth has been disputed. Though the year 1882 is written in her family bible, the 1900 US Census records her birth year as 1881, and her marriage license records that she was born in 1880. ^[19] Authenticating to the most recent of those dates, Barnes lived for 115 years and 319 days.

Adelina Domingues

Adelina Domingues (February 19, 1888 – August 21, 2002) was a Cape Verdean American supercentenarian who was the world's oldest person from the May 28, 2002 death of fellow 114-year-old American woman Grace Clawson until her own death less than three months later. ^[20] Domingues was born in Cape Verde. Her family was not very well off financially at the time of her birth. Domingues's Italian father was a harbor pilot by profession, and her mother was Portuguese by ethnicity. ^[21] She married a ship captain in 1907, and moved to the United States that year. ^[21] Her husband died from cancer in 1950. ^[21] Domingues was a missionary from the Church of the Nazarene in Cape Verde and other parts of Africa and was also a religious preacher when she lived in Massachusetts, as well as an expert seamstress. ^[21]

Domingues was a firm believer in the American Dream, was deeply religious, had conservative political views, and was a pen pal of U.S. President Ronald Reagan. ^[21] She had four children, but only one of them (a son, Frank) reached adulthood. ^[21] Frank died in 1998 at the age of 71, with Adelina outliving him by four years. ^[21] Domingues died at a nursing home in the San Diego, California, area in August 2002, at age 114 years and 183 days. ^[21] Domingues claimed she was actually 115 years old, but her family and Cape Verdean diplomats did some research and discovered her baptismal information, from which they concluded that Domingues was 114 years old when she died. ^[22]

Charlotte Benkner

Charlotte Benkner (née Enterlein; November 16, 1889 – May 14, 2004) ^{[23] [24] [25] [26]} was an American supercentenarian and considered the world's oldest person from 2003 to 2004. ^{[27] [23]} Subsequent recognition of other supercentenarians ranked Benkner as the third oldest at the time of her death. ^{[24] [25]}

Benkner was born in Leipzig, Germany, and emigrated to the U.S. in 1896. She grew up in Peekskill, New York, where her family ran the Albert Hotel, and as a young woman once met then President of the United States, Theodore Roosevelt. ^{[26] [28]} After her 1908 marriage to Karl Benkner, she moved west, living in Pennsylvania and Ohio before retiring to Arizona. Already a supercentenarian and the oldest person in Arizona, Benkner returned to Ohio to live in North Lima with her sister Tillie O'Hare, her youngest sibling. ^[26] Tillie died in January 2004, just three weeks shy of becoming a centenarian. ^[28] Benkner survived her sister by only four months, and died at age 114 years 180 days, after a brief hospital stay in Youngstown, Ohio.

Emma Verona Johnston

Emma Verona Johnston (née Calhoun; August 6, 1890 – December 1, 2004) was an American supercentenarian who was born in Indianola, Iowa to a large family. ^[29] She graduated from Drake University in the Class of 1912 and went on to work as a Latin teacher before she married ophthalmologist Harry Johnston; ^{[30] [31] [32]} at the time of her death, she was the university's oldest living graduate. ^[30]

At age 98, Johnston moved from Iowa to Ohio in order to live with her daughter and son-in-law. Even after turning 110, she continued to be in good health, alert and engaging in conversations, and was still able to walk up steps. ^[30] She became the oldest known living American in May 2004. ^[29] Shortly afterwards, on the occasion of her 114th birthday, she was presented with a proclamation signed by Drake University President David Maxwell. ^[33] The university's Vice President for Institutional Advancement, John Willey, nominated her for an honorary degree. ^[32] Johnston died in Worthington, Ohio on December 1, 2004, ^[29] at age 114 years, 117 days.

Bettie Wilson

Bettie Antry Wilson (née Rutherford; September 13, 1890 – February 13, 2006) ^[34] was the oldest resident of Mississippi ever recorded, and was considered the oldest living person in the United States from December 2004 until the subsequent verification of Elizabeth Bolden.^{[ citation needed ]} Both were born in the rural South, where they lived less than 100 miles apart. Wilson was the daughter of freed slaves, Solomon and Delia Rutherford.

In April 2005, Wilson moved into a new home funded by donations, in New Albany. She celebrated her 115th birthday in September 2005, and died on February 13, 2006, aged 115 years, 153 days. She was survived by her son, five grandchildren, 46 great-grandchildren, 95 great-great-grandchildren and 38 great-great-great-grandchildren. ^[34]

George Francis

George Rene Francis (June 6, 1896 – December 27, 2008) ^{[35] [36] [37]} was an American supercentenarian and the joint second-oldest living man in the world, together with Englishman Henry Allingham, also born on June 6, 1896, until Francis's death aged 112 years, 204 days. He was also the oldest living man in the United States, following the death of Antonio Pierro on February 8, 2007. Francis was from New Orleans, Louisiana, but after 1949 lived in Sacramento, California, where a local newspaper published a poem that Francis enjoyed reciting to friends and the public throughout his life. ^[38] He credited his longevity to nature, and enjoyed a rich diet of pork, eggs, milk and lard. He gave up smoking cigars at the age of 75. ^[39]

Francis attempted to join the army in World War I but was rejected for service in 1918 as being too short and small (he weighed only about 100 pounds [45 kg]). Despite this, he later was a boxer before becoming a barber and then a chauffeur. ^[35]

Bernice Madigan

Bernice Madigan ( née  Emerson; July 24, 1899 – January 3, 2015) was born in West Springfield, Massachusetts, ^{[5] [40] [41]} and moved to Cheshire when she was six. ^[42] In 1918, after graduating from Adams High School, ^{[42] [43]} she responded to government drives to recruit women into employment during WWI, and moved to Washington, DC. ^[40] After the war, she worked as a secretary for the Department of the Treasury and the Veterans Administration. ^[44] She married Paul Madigan (d. 1976) in 1925; ^[44] they lived in the Washington, DC area and then in Silver Spring, Maryland. ^[42] She retired in 1942, after which she volunteered with the church and at nursing homes, playing piano for residents. ^[42] She returned to live with family in Massachusetts in 2007. ^[44] She participated in Boston University School of Medicine's New England Centenarian Study, ^[45] and was interviewed and filmed by the Center for Aging at the University of Chicago and the ABC World News. ^[45] She is one of 100 centenarians in The Archon Genomics XPRIZE. ^{[46] [47]} She joined social media, with profiles on Facebook and Twitter. ^{[44] [48] [49]} Madigan died in her sleep at the age of 115 years, 163 days at 2 a.m. on January 3, 2015. ^{[41] [49]} At the time of her death, she was the oldest living resident of Massachusetts, ^[50] the fourth-oldest living person in the United States, ^[51] and the world's fifth-oldest living person. ^{[51] [52]}

Notes

1. Holtz was born in the Province of Posen, which was a part of the German Empire at the time of her birth. Today, this area is a part of Poland.
2. Residents of Puerto Rico born on or after 25 April 1898 are United States citizens. ^[8]
3. Steinberg was born in Kishinev, which had then been a part of the Russian Empire. It is now the capital of Moldova.
4. Domingues was born in Cape Verde, which was at that time a Portuguese colony. Now it is an independent country.
5. Mirigian was born in Armenia, then part of the Ottoman Empire.
6. Michelson was born in Elizabethgrad, which was then a part of the Russian Empire. It is now part of Ukraine.

References

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3. "World's oldest person misses millennium". BBC News . December 31, 1999. Retrieved November 8, 2018.
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6. Korynta, Emma; Mendis, Tanya. "She was a pillar | Hester Ford, oldest living American, has died at 116". WCNC. Retrieved April 17, 2021.
7. Services, Iverson-Kassian Funeral. "Obituary for Iris Westman | Iverson - Kassian Funeral Services". Obituary for Iris Westman | Iverson - Kassian Funeral Services.
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14. Social Security Death Index; 040383799
15. Collins, Gail (December 29, 1996). "Life is Long". The New York Times. Retrieved December 9, 2007. Mary Electa Bidwell was supposed to be listed as the Guinness Book of World Records's oldest living American, but she died shortly before the publication's deadline. 1876–1996 Mary Thompson, who was slightly older, couldn't qualify for Guinness's title, either – as the daughter of ex-slaves, she had no birth certificate – but in 1992 she did receive the ultimate American tribute to longevity, a mention by Willard Scott on the Today show.
16. "Mary Electa Bidwell. Oldest person in the USA". Bidwell House Museum. 1996. Archived from the original on July 24, 2011. Retrieved December 9, 2007. According to the Guinness Book of World Records, Mary Electa Bidwell, at 114, is the oldest person in the United States.
17. "Oldest person in the U.S. still teaching life lessons". CNN. Archived from the original on March 12, 2002. Retrieved December 9, 2007. Mary Bidwell has a long memory because she has had a long life. At 114, she is the oldest person in the United States.
18. Jeune, Bernard; et al. (May 2010). "Jeanne Calment and her Successors.". In Maier, Heiner (ed.). Supercentenarians (Demographic Research Monographs). Springer. pp. 298–299. ISBN   978-3-642-11519-6.
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33. "Drake celebrates alumna's 114th birthday". On Campus: Drake University's newsletter for Faculty and Staff. 57 (6). Drake University Digital Collections, Drake University Library. August 13, 2004. Retrieved July 30, 2018.
34. Bettie Wilson, 115; One of Three Oldest Americans (LA Times)
35. "George Francis, oldest man in the United States, dies at 112". Los Angeles Times . December 29, 2008. Retrieved September 12, 2015.
36. Dearen, Jason (December 28, 2008). "Oldest man in the US dies in Sacramento at 112". The Sacramento Bee. Sacramento, CA. Associated Press. Archived from the original on August 15, 2013. Retrieved November 3, 2010. Francis died Saturday of congestive heart failure at a nursing home in Sacramento
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