Jamaican woman believed to be the world’s oldest living person

Violet Brown

At 117 years of age, Violet Brown of Duanvale, Jamaica is believed to be the world’s oldest living person following the death on Saturday of Emma Morano of Italy who was born Nov. 29, 1899.

Brown who worked in the sugarcane fields  around her home in western Jamaica, now spends most of the day resting in the home she shares with her 97-year-old son, Harold Fairweather. She is able to sit up by herself and walk short distances.

Robert Young, director of Gerontology Research Group, a network of volunteer researchers into the world’s oldest people, said he has met Brown and examined her birth certificate, which was issued by the British authorities who governed Jamaica at the time of her birth.

“She’s the oldest person that we have sufficient documentation for at this time,” Young said.

The website of the Gerentology Research Group says Brown was born on March 10, 1900.

Her secret to long life?

Hard work, said the former cane farmer.