R.I.P.

Last Survivor of 19th Century Dies

“She passed away as if falling asleep.”

Nabi Tajima, the world’s oldest known person and the last survivor of the 19th century, died Saturday in a Japanese hospital. She was 117. “She passed away as if falling asleep. As she had been a hard worker, I want to tell her 'rest well,’” Hiroyuki, her 65-year-old grandson, told Japan’s Kyodo News. Tajima was hospitalized about a month ago, but she spent most of her recent years bedridden. Born on April 4, 1900, she raised seven sons and two daughters, and at the time of her death reportedly had more than 160 descendants, including several great-great-great-grandchildren. With Tajima’s passing, the title of world’s oldest person has been handed over to another Japanese woman, 116-year-old Chiyo Miyako.