Besse Brown Cooper, World’s Oldest Living Person, Celebrates 116th Birthday

Besse Brown Cooper just celebrated her 116th birthday. The Tennessee native is the world’s oldest living person and is only the 8th person in history to reach her 116th birthday.

According to the Guinness Book of World Records, Cooper was born on Aug. 26, 1896, the same year as F.Scott Fitzgerald and comedian George Burns.

The NY Daily News reports that Besse Brown Cooper is only the 8th person in the world to celebrate her Super Sweet 116th birthday. She’s only the fourth American to reach the milestone.

Cooper was born in Tennessee but moved to Georgia in 1917 during World War 1. She has four kids with her late husband Luther Cooper who passed away in 1963 at the age of 68.

Cooper now has 12 grand kids, 15 great-grand kids, and one great-great grand child.

Cooper was named the world’s oldest person in January 2011. She lost the title, however, after Guinness found out that Maria Gomes Valentin of Brazil was actually 48 days older than Cooper. Valentin passed away in the Summer of 2011 and Cooper regained the crown.

Living to be 116-years-old is quite the feat, but Cooper has a few years to go if she wants to be crowned the world’s oldest person. Jeanne Calment of France lived to the age of 122. Calment was born in 1875 and passed away in 1997.

So how did Besse Brown Cooper manage to live for 116 years? Cooper said: “(By) minding her own business and not eating junk food.”

You can wish the world’s oldest living person a happy Super Sweet 116th birthday on her Facebook page.