MIAMI, Dec 4 (Reuters) - A 116-year-old woman listed by
Guinness World Records as the oldest living person anywhere
around the globe died on Tuesday in a nursing home in the U.S.
state of Georgia soon after having her hair done.
Besse Cooper died peacefully at the Park Place nursing home
in Monroe, Georgia, according to her son Sidney Cooper.
"She looked real good when she passed away," the 77-year-old
Cooper told Reuters, saying his mother died quietly and without
suffering.
"She got up this morning, had a big old breakfast and got
her hair fixed," he said. "It's just like she got up planning to
do it."
He said his mother, who taught school until her first child
was born in 1929, had four children. All of them survived her
and are still in good health, he said.
"She lived in three centuries. Don't many people do that,"
said Cooper. He added that his mother died after a brief bout of
breathing trouble that put her back in bed after lunch.
Besse Cooper was first certified as the world's oldest
person by Guinness World Records in January 2011.
The title was stripped from her for a few months when it was
discovered that Brazilian-born Maria Gomes Valentim, a fellow
super centenarian, was 48 days older. Guinness gave the title
back to Cooper after Gomes Valentim died in June 2011.
(Reporting By Tom Brown; editing by Christopher Wilson)