BIOGRAPHY

Hermine Saubion was born in Marseille, Bouches-du-Rhône, Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur, France on 21 September 1911. She spent her childhood in Aubagne before settling in Marseille, where she would spend most of her life. Initially working as a seamstress, she later became a waitress at the Noailles roasting café.

During World War II, she experienced the solidarity of her neighborhood. She met a man named Lucien at a Sunday balèti and fell in love with him. Although she moved in with him, she had to leave to care for her widowed mother. She worked selling socks at the Pardame store on rue de Rome in Marseille.

In her free time, between reading romance novels and playing board games, she went on trips with her friends.

In 2015, she moved to Vachères to be with her niece and nephew. In 2019, she moved into a nursing home in Banon. At the age of 109, she enjoyed relatively good health, despite some hearing loss due to her advanced age. She successfully withstood a Covid-19 outbreak that affected her nursing home for three weeks in the spring of 2020. When asked about the secret to her longevity on her 109th birthday, she replied that she didn’t have one. As of her 111th birthday, her sister Émilienne was still living, also a centenarian.

Hermine Saubion passed away in Banon, Alpes-de-Haute-Provence, Provence-Alpes-Cote d’Azur, France on 2 February 2023 at the age of 111 years, 134 days.

RECOGNITION

Her age was verified by the members of the Les Grands Centenaires Français, and validated by the ESO on 18 January 2022.

ATTRIBUTION

* “Alpes-de-Haute-Provence : Hermine fête bientôt ses 109 ans à Banon” – La Provence, 14 September 2020

* “Banon : à 110 ans, Hermine est en pleine forme” – La Provence, 9 October 2021

* “A 110 ans passés, “je tiens le coup”: vies de supercentenaires” – La Croix, 10 February 2022

* “Hermine, doyenne des Alpes-de-Haute-Provence, s’est éteinte à 111 ans” – La Provence, 3 February 2023

GALLERY