Woman at 116 Dies: World's Oldest Person Besse Cooper Passes Away Peacefully at Georgia Nursing Home at 116-years-old

Besse Cooper, a Georgia woman recognized as the "Oldest Person in the World," peacefully died at her Monroe nursing home on Tuesday (Dec. 4) at the astounding age of 116. Cooper's son Sidney claims that his mother had recently been ill with a stomach virus, but was feeling much better on Monday - she even managed to fix up her hair on Tuesday before having trouble breathing. Cooper was promptly set up on oxygen and passed away in her room at approximately 2 p.m.

Cooper was named the world's oldest person in January 2011. The Guinness World Records later learned in May 2011 that Maria Gomes Valentin of Brazil was actually 48 days older, but she unfortunately passed away the next month. Therefore Cooper promptly regained her title. Cooper is the first Georgian to hold the world record (she moved from Tennessee during WWI to look for work as a teacher).

Sydney Cooper insists that just hours before her death, Besse was feeling great and was even enjoying a Christmas movie in the nursing home's common room with her hair set. Moments later she began having trouble breathing - "With her hair fixed it looked like she was ready to go," Cooper said.

Just last year, Cooper celebrated her 115th birthday with close family and friends - she enjoyed some b-day cake and was happily serenaded by a musician from Nashville who sang "Tennessee Waltz."

"It's a sad day for me," said Guinness Senior Consultant for Gerontology Robert Young. He met Cooper when she was 111, and Young was amazed at her health and mental agility - "At that age she was doing really well, she was able to read books," he said.

Young declares that the title of World's Oldest Person now belongs to 115-year-old Dina Manfredini of Iowa. The oldest known person of all time was Jeanne Calment, a French woman who lived to be 122 years old (she died in 1997).