World's Oldest Person, Kama Chinen of Japan, Dies | DISGRASIAN at Schema : more than ethnic

World's Oldest Person, Kama Chinen of Japan, Dies | DISGRASIAN

Disgrasian

This was posted by our friends on Disgrasian and I thought it was a good little reminder for those of us who still have grandparents. Seems like nowadays, there's a trend of finding out where we come from (historically and culturally) and there are many things about our heritage that isn't written in a text book. Spend some time and ask your grandparents to tell you stories about the ol' days. You might be surprised by what you find. Thanks, Disgrasian for the newsflash!

The world's oldest person, Kama Chinen of Okinawa, Japan, died Sunday, a week short of her 115th birthday. Chinen was also the 28th oldest person ever and the 25th oldest woman ever. In April, she became the last person born in 1895 who was still alive.

To put this in perspective, here are a few other things that were happening in 1895 (via Wikipedia):

* The game of volleyball is invented
* Alfred Nobel signs his last will and testament, setting aside his estate to establish this little thing called the Nobel Prize
* W.E.B. Du Bois becomes the first African American to receive his Ph.D. from Harvard
* China is still being ruled by the Qing Dynasty

And other people born in 1895 include Babe Ruth, Buster Keaton, and J. Edgar Hoover. You know, people who have been really dead for a really long time?

The oldest living person is now believed to be 114 year-old Eugenie Blanchard of France.