Ada Van Natta

BIOGRAPHY

Van Natta was born in Gillespie, Illinois, on 30 November 1879 as the penultimate child of 17 born to Jacob and Sarah (Bevill) Van Natta, a farming couple who hailed from Cincinnati, Ohio. Van Natta was very close with her younger sister Ella, neither of whom married nor had children.

Van Natta cared for her parents until their deaths in 1926 aged 95 and 87 respectively. Until the age of 91, she would grow and eat her own vegetables. In 1972, after a fall and suffering a broken hip, Van Natta and her younger sister moved into a Gillespie nursing home. Ella, her last surviving sibling, died in 1977 aged 94.

As a centenarian, Van Natta enjoyed singing hymns and eating bread and butter with sugar. At the time of her 112th birthday, Van Natta was blind and partially deaf, but took no medication. She mostly slept and ate pureed foods. She never smoked nor drank alcohol.

Van Natta died on 14 November 1992 at the age of 112 years, 350 days.

RECOGNITION

Van Natta’s age was originally validated by the Gerontology Research Group (GRG) on 14 September 2003, however, she was validated as being 111 years old and born in 1880. Subsequent research conducted by Jimmy Lindberg has proven that her claimed birth year of 1879 is correct, and thus a final age of 112 years, 350 days.

ATTRIBUTION

GALLERY

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