BIOGRAPHY

Irène Lepetit was born in the commune of Dax in the Landes department, Nouvelle-Aquitaine, France, on 16 June 1907.

At 19, she moved to Paris and worked as a seamstress in a factory, while her husband became a butcher. Her husband was a prisoner of war from 1939 to 1945. Before his capture, he told her to remain in Paris if anything happened to him. She continued working, though rations were often insufficient. At the end of the war, upon her husband’s return, she gave birth to their first child at the age of 42 years and 5 months. When her husband fell ill, they left Paris and retired to Tarbes, where her brother and sister lived. A year after their arrival, her husband passed away.

Throughout her life, she traveled extensively, visiting places such as Indonesia, the Philippines, Guadeloupe, and Portugal. Her journeys spanned from her very first trip in 1912 to Morocco, where her father was building houses, to her last—at over 105 years old—when she traveled to Lyon to be with her dying son.

When asked about the secret to her longevity, she replied: “I don’t know. You have to eat and drink in moderation. I drink tap water, and since my husband was a butcher, I always had high-quality meat. My favorite dish is sweetbreads.”

Irène Lepetit passed away in Tarbes in the Hautes-Pyrénées department in the Occitanie region, on 31 May 2019, at the age of 111 years, 349 days.

RECOGNITION

Lepetit’s age was verified by Guillaume Legris (Les Grands Centenaires Français) and validated by the ESO on 21 January 2021.

ATTRIBUTION

* “À 108 ans, Irène Lepetit n’a besoin de personne…” – La Depeche, 17 June 2015

* “La doyenne de la région Occitanie a fêté ses 110 ans hier” – Le Journal du Gers, 17 June 2017

* “Irène, 110 ans, doyenne régionale et autonome” – France 3-Regions, 17 June 2017

* “À 110 ans, la doyenne régionale vit seule” – La Depeche, 17 June 2017

* “Irène Lepetit, 111 ans, doyenne de la Bigorre” – Tarbes infos, 27 June 2018

GALLERY