BIOGRAPHY

Irma Vanderhaegen was born in Ghent, East Flanders, Belgium, on 26 June 1887. On 1 February 1911, at the age of 23, she married Camille Carteus. Her husband worked as a signalman for the National Railway Company of Belgium, while she was a housewife. She didn’t have much time for hobbies, except for knitting, which she did regularly. She had three children; however, one son passed away after two days and a daughter after ten months, leaving only one son who survived into adulthood. She was widowed in 1961, after 50 years of marriage.

In 1982, around the age of 95, she moved into the Zonnebloem residential care center in Ghent. On her 107th birthday, when the nursing home management informed her that she was the oldest woman in Belgium, she reportedly shed a tear. At the time, she had one grandson, one great-granddaughter and three great-great-grandchildren. Her last surviving son passed away while she was in her centenarian years.

Irma Vanderhaegen passed away in Ghent (Zwijnaarde), East Flanders, Belgium, on 11 November 1997, at the age of 110 years, 138 days.

RECOGNITION

Following the passing of Jules-Leo Neijrinck (25 February 1886 – 2 April 1994), she became the oldest living person in Belgium, at the age of 106 years, 280 days.

In June 1997, she celebrated her 110th birthday, becoming only the second person in Belgium, after Maria Van Sprengel, to attain supercentenarian status.

Vanderhaegen was the first supercentenarian in the province of East Flanders. She held the title of the province’s longevity record holder until 27 August 2014, when Anna de Guchtenaere surpassed her final age.

Upon her passing, Catharina Ververs succeeded her as the nation’s oldest living resident.

ATTRIBUTION

* Het Volk, 25 June 1993

* Gazet van Antwerpen, 29 June 1994

* Het Nieuwsblad, 26 June 1997

* Blik, 12 August 1997

* Het Volk, 12 November 1997

GALLERY