115-year-old Iowa woman considered to be oldest in U.S. dies
A 115-year-old Iowa woman, once thought to be the United States’ oldest resident, has passed away.
According to Lampe & Powers Funeral Home in Lake City, Bessie Laurena Hendricks, a resident of Lake City, passed away on Tuesday at the Shady Oaks Care Center. On November 7, Hendricks celebrated her 115th birthday at the facility. The Gerontology Research Group of Los Angeles identified Hendricks as the oldest living American at the time of her passing
Hendricks was born in Calhoun County, Iowa (west-central Iowa) in 1907, making her old enough to have heard about the events surrounding the Titanic’s sinking, World Wars I and II, the Great Depression, and the Spanish flu and Covid-19 pandemics. At addition to raising five kids, the Des Moines Register reports that she taught in a local one-room schoolhouse.
On Saturday, there will be a funeral service for Hendricks at Lampe & Powers.
The Gerontology Research Group states that with Hendrick’s passing, California’s Edie Ceccarelli, who is 114 years old, has become the oldest person in the United States.