Alexandrine Bourrée

BIOGRAPHY

Bourrée was born as Alexandrine Jeanne Henriette Fermin in Le Teilleul, Manche, Normandy, on 5 June 1904. She attended school in the hamlet of La Fouillée before working on her parents’ farm. In 1931, she married Émile Bourrée; the couple lived on a farm in La Bazuraie.

Bourrée had a daughter, Marie, in 1936. She was widowed in 1960, and continued working on the farm until 1983, when she moved in with her daughter and son-in-law. At the age of 100, she was still able to pick apples.

In 2010, aged 106, Bourrée moved into a nursing home in Barenton, Normandy. One of her granddaughters claimed that the secret to Bourrée’s longevity was a balanced diet and abstaining from alcohol. She became a great-great-grandmother at 108 years old.

In June 2014, Bourrée became the sixth supercentenarian to reside in Normandy. She died in the commune of Barenton on 1 July 2014 at the age of 110 years, 26 days after her health declined. Her successor as Normandy’s oldest resident was Jeanne Martin (1904 – 2014). She was survived by her daughter, three grandchildren, seven great-grandchildren, and a great-great-grandson.