Charlotte Benkner
Charlotte Benkner (born
Charlotte Enterlein in
Leipzig,
Germany on
November 16,
1889 -
May 14,
2004 in
Youngstown, Ohio) was the oldest person of verified age in the world from November
2003, until sufficient documentation was found to validate the age of
Ramona Trinidad Iglesias-Jordan in March
2004. The recognition of Maria Capovilla of Ecuador in December 2005 moved Benkner down to third place. On a plus note, Charlotte holds the record for the oldest verified German-born person.
She emigrated to the
United States in
1896. She grew up in
Peekskill, New York, where her family ran the
Albert Hotel, and as a young woman once met
Theodore Roosevelt.
On her
1908 marriage to Karl Benkner, she moved west, living in
Pennsylvania and
Ohio before retiring to
Arizona. Already a
supercentenarian and the oldest person in Arizona, she returned to Ohio. She became the oldest recognized person in the United States when
Elena Slough died in October
2003. She lived with her sister Tillie, whom she once cared for when their parents were running the hotel, until Tillie died, weeks short of
turning 100, on
January 25,
2004.
Charlotte survived her sister by only a few months, dying after she was briefly hospitalized. She was buried in
Peekskill.
*
UPI obituary at Washington Times*
Toledo Blade obituary*
NY Journal News obituary*
Find-A-Grave entry for Charlotte Benkner
