Eugénie Blanchard

Who is Eugénie Blanchard?

Anne Eugénie Blanchard was born in the Merlet quarter of Saint Barthélemy on 16 February 1896, the last survivor of thirteen brothers and sisters in a large island family. In May 1923 she left her home island for Curaçao in the Dutch Caribbean, where she entered the Congregation of Franciscan Sisters of Roosendaal and took the religious name Sister Cyria, earning the affectionate nickname "Sweets" for her gentle care of others during decades of convent service. She eventually returned home to Saint Barthélemy, spending her final decades in the geriatric ward of Bruyn Hospital in Gustavia from 1980 onward. On 2 May 2010, following the death of Japanese supercentenarian Kama Chinen, Sister Eugénie was recognized by the Gerontology Research Group and Guinness World Records as the world's oldest verified living person. She held that title until her own death at Bruyn Hospital on 4 November 2010, at the age of 114 years and 261 days. Her long life, spanning from the late nineteenth century to the early twenty-first, made her one of the best-documented supercentenarians in history and a widely known figure in Saint Barthélemy's own story.

Sources: CBS News, "Eugenie Blanchard, aka 'Sweets,' the World's Oldest Person, Dies at 114" (2010) · France 24, "World's oldest person dies at 114" (4 November 2010) · Gerontology Research Group, "Eugénie Blanchard"