Supercentenarian Profile

Mélanie Leblais

Born:

1903-09-04

Mouais, Loire-Atlantique, Pays de la Loire

France

Died:

2016-04-03

Ruaudin, Sarthe, Pays de la Loire

France

✔ Age Certified by LongeviQuest

Mélanie Marie Leblais (née Jans) was a French supercentenarian. Her age has been validated by the European Supercentenarian Organisation (ESO).

BIOGRAPHY

Mélanie Leblais was born in the commune of Mouais in the Loire-Atlantique department in western France, on 4 September 1903. Her parents were Pierre Louis Marie Jans (1875–1943) and Augustine Marie Blanchais (1881–1965). Her father worked for the railway, and her mother was a seamstress. Mélanie had one brother, Marcel, who died of tuberculosis at the age of 21.

At 15, she began working from farm to farm as a housekeeper and also did sewing. At 17, she met her future husband at a wedding. On 5 July 1921, she married Théophile Marie Louis Leblais (1899–1964) in Mouais. The couple had a son, Théophile Alfred Marie (1922–2021). The couple later moved to Châteaubriant, where Théophile worked in railway signaling for the SNCF, while Mélanie served as a crossing guard for 23 years.

Mélanie retired on 1 May 1945. Her husband passed away in 1964, and in 1984 she moved into a retirement home. She had three grandchildren, four great-grandchildren, and four great-great-grandchildren.

Mélanie Leblais passed away in Ruaudin in the department of Sarthe in the Pays de la Loire Region of north-western France, on 3 April 2016, at the age of 112 years, 212 days.