BIOGRAPHY

Rosa Castrodad Melendez was born in Cidra, Puerto Rico, on 20 April 1912.

At some point, she married her cousin Pedro Luis Castrodad Meléndez (their fathers were brothers). Along with her husband, she ran a farm where they grew tobacco, beans, sweet potatoes, bananas, plantains, celery, yams, and malangas. They also had animals such as chickens, pigs, turkeys, guineas, ducks, cows, and oxen. She also ran a little store for many years. They also had sharecroppers who worked and lived on the farm and divided their earnings equally with the family. Her husband died in 2009 at the age of 96.

According to her daughter, she chewed tobacco since she was eight years old because her grandmother taught her. She only stopped at the age of 105. She lost one of her breasts due to benign cancer that she got in her 50s or 60s. As a centenarian, she was blind in one eye, but didn’t require any medication.

Rosa Castrodad Meléndez passed away in Cidra, Puerto Rico, on 17 July 2023, at the age of 111.

RECOGNITION

Her age was validated by the Latin American Supercentenarians (LAS).

On 5 December 2021, following the death of 111-year-old Juan Escribano Bruno, she became the oldest known living person in Puerto Rico, at the age of 109.

On 15 October 2022, following the death of 111-year-old Rosa Rosario de Santos, she became the oldest living Puerto Rican-born person.

Upon her death, Bienvenido Díaz Guilfú succeeded her as Puerto Rico’s oldest known living resident.

ATTRIBUTION

* “Rosa Castrodad Meléndez, quien cumplió 111 años el pasado 20 de abril, falleció ayer lunes en su pueblo natal de Cidra” – Facebook (Conociendo a Puerto Rico), 18 July 2023

GALLERY