BIOGRAPHY

Geneviève Connessons was born in Soissons, Aisne, Hauts-de-France, France on 18 August 1914, as the eldest of five children. Her father was a boilermaker, while her mother focused on household chores and the education of their children. She learned shorthand typing and began working as an employee at a foundry near her parents’ home. She married in 1935 and moved to Ville-d’Avray (Hauts-de-Seine), where she worked for an English family, caring for their children and handling daily tasks. She participated in the strikes of 1936, enjoyed paid leave, and discovered camping holidays while traveling on a tandem bicycle. During World War II, she experienced the exodus but eventually reunited with her husband in Bourges. After the war, the family settled in Sèvres, where she dedicated herself to caring for her children.

Connessons was very active in her community and, in her free time, practiced yoga, sang in a choir, swam, and traveled extensively. She lived alone in her home until she was 106 and was still driving her car at the age of 100. In February 2021, at 106, she moved to a nursing home. She remarked that she had a fulfilling life and led a healthy lifestyle. She even traveled to Romania every year for mud baths, which she considered a fitness treatment against aging.

Geneviève Connessons passed away in Auxerre in the Yonne department, Bourgogne-Franche-Comté, France, on 18 October 2024, at the age of 110 years, 61 days.

RECOGNITION

Her age has not been validated.

ATTRIBUTION

* “Geneviève a fêté ses 108 ans” – L’Yonne Républicaine, 22 August 2022

* “Geneviève Connesson, la doyenne de l’Yonne a fêté ses 109 printemps” – L’Yonne Républicaine, 29 August 2023

* “Geneviève Connessons s’en est allée il y a quelques jours.” – Les Grands Centenaires Français, 6 November 2024

GALLERY