Supercentenarian Profile

Viola Jacobi

Born:

1903-07-25

Milwaukee, Wisconsin

United States

Died:

2016-05-22

Wauwatosa, Wisconsin

United States

✔ Age Certified by LongeviQuest

Viola Minnie Jacobi (née Kirchner) was an American supercentenarian. Her age has been validated by the Gerontology Research Group (GRG) and recognised by LongeviQuest.

BIOGRAPHY

Viola Jacobi was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on 25 July 1903, to parents Theodore H. Kirchner (1873–1968) and Katherine Tennessen (1872–1943). She had two brothers: Harold William (1900–1964) and Clifford (1906–1944). She grew up on her family’s farm in Granville and attended a one-room schoolhouse near Silver Spring Drive. Her father would take the children to school by horse and buggy.

Deciding that farming was not the life she wanted, she moved to Milwaukee after graduating from Wauwatosa High School to live and work. It was there that she met her future husband, Conrad Andrew Jacobi (1899–1989), on a streetcar. They were married on 15 June 1926. The couple raised four children. Their firstborn, Kenneth, passed away in 2009 at the age of 81, and their daughter Marcia died in 1999 at 66. Their youngest daughter was Judy Wold.

Conrad worked as an estimator for a plumbing and heating company. Once the children were grown, she took a job at a florist’s shop and remained there until the age of 96 — even learning to use a computer at 90. She was recognized as one of Milwaukee’s oldest active workers and remained deeply involved in her church community. In the 1960s, when her father grew elderly, she and Conrad moved back to the family farmhouse to help care for him. By that time, much of the surrounding farmland had been subdivided into residential lots. Later, when Conrad developed Alzheimer’s disease, she cared for him at home for 14 years until his death in 1989, just short of his 90th birthday.

At 95, she was the victim of a purse-snatching in her driveway — the thief drove off with her car, and she decided never to drive again. She continued living in the house until she was 106, then moved to a senior apartment in Menomonee Falls, later to assisted living in Glendale, and finally to the Lutheran Home after suffering a second hip fracture. She survived both breast cancer and skin cancer, remaining resilient and independent throughout her long life.

Viola Jacobi passed away in Wauwatosa, Wisconsin, on 22 May 2016, at the age of 112 years, 302 days. She was survived by two of her daughters, Lois Tessmer and Judith Wold, as well as 12 grandchildren, 19 great-grandchildren, and 6 great-great-grandchildren.

RECOGNITION

On 8 March 2013, following the passing of Belle Garfinkel, she became the oldest known living person in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. Upon her own passing, she was succeeded by Rose Thayer.

Jacobi’s age was verified by Robert Young, Elias Leivaditis, and Marco Wikkerink, and was validated by the GRG on 2 September 2015.

On 26 February 2016, at the age of 112 years, 216 days, she surpassed the final age of Anna Balsiger (1889–2001), becoming the oldest known person ever to have lived in Wisconsin.

At the time of her passing, she was the second-oldest known person ever born in Wisconsin, after Bertha Harris. In 2021, Erna Zahn surpassed her final age as well.