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Sister André — the world's oldest person — has died at 118. She drank a glass of wine every day and credited her long life to working until she was 108.

Jan 19, 2023, 01:23 IST
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Sister Andre poses for a portrait at the Sainte Catherine Laboure care home in Toulon, southern France, Wednesday, April 27, 2022.AP Photo/Daniel Cole, File
  • The world's oldest living person, a nun named Sister André, died Tuesday at 118 years old.
  • She has credited her longevity to working every day, which she did until she was 108.
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The world's oldest living person, died Tuesday at 118 years old.

Lucile Randon — a French nun known as Sister André — was living at the Sainte-Catherine-Laboure nursing home in the Southern French city of Toulon at the time of her death. A spokesperson for the nursing home confirmed to French media she passed in her sleep at 2:00 a.m. local time, the New York Times reported.

The Gerontology Research Group, which catalogs details of those known to be older than 110 years old, listed André as the oldest living person in the world after Japan's Kane Tanaka died last year at 119.

Throughout her long life, André shared tips on how to make it so many years. Her secrets? Work as long as you can and drink a glass of wine every day.

"Working … makes you live. I worked until I was 108," André told French media in April, the Associated Press reported.

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In her younger years, André worked as a teacher and a governess and also spent time caring for kids during World War II, according to Guinness World Records.

She then worked at a hospital in Vichy where she took care of orphans and other patients for 28 years.

Having grown up Protestant, André converted to Catholicism at age 26 and began working for the church two decades later, at which point she took on the title of "Sister," the New York Times reported. She spent most of her career as a Roman Catholic nun.

According to the New York Times, just last year she told reporters that "work kept me alive."

André was also known to enjoy a daily glass of wine and a piece of chocolate, two things that could be credited for her longevity.

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"Her glass of wine maintains her and which is perhaps her longevity secret. I don't know - I don't encourage people to drink a glass of wine every day!" a staff member from André's nursing home told Guinness World Records.

André has lived through two world wars and both the 1918 influenza pandemic and the COVID-19 pandemic in recent years.

In 2021, she became the oldest person to contract and survive COVID-19, according to Guinness World Records.

The Associated Press reported that at the time of her diagnosis, André didn't even realize she had been infected with COVID-19 as she barely had any symptoms during the course of the illness.

In her final years, André faced signs of aging that caused her to feel "lonely," including blindness and the need to use a wheelchair, the New York Times reported.

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"She had become for the French a symbol of continuity and resistance, a memory of the century," a statement from French President Emmanuel Macron's office said, the Times reported. According to the AP, the statement also lauded "this altruistic personality whom the French considered as a reference, a source of pride and attachment."

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