Biography
Andree Guyon was born in the commune of Aize, Indre Department, Centre-Val de Loire Region, France on 6 June 1911. Her parents were Armand Gerbault (1884–1967) a farmer, and Agathe Leday (1889–1916). She had four siblings: André (1909–1984), Jacques Valentin (1913–1933), Jean (1914–1939), Jeanne Armandine (1916–2011), as well as two half-siblings from her father’s second marriage: Paulette (1921–2011) and Jacqueline. At the age of 10, she started working on a farm.
On 5 June 1937, she married Pierre Guyon (1911–1971) in Paris. The couple had two daughters (Jacqueline and Christiane). She moved to Saint-Éliph (Eure-et-Loir) in 1941. The same year, she was hired as a cook for a family in Champrond-en-Gâtine (Eure-et-Loir), while her husband managed the forestry estate.
Guyon kept on working as a cook until the age of 99. Around the same time, she moved back to Saint-Éliph. In June 2011, she celebrated her 100th birthday with 80 family members, including three surviving sisters: Jeanne, Paulette, and Jacqueline. As a centenarian, she had six grandchildren, eight great-grandchildren, and two great-great-grandchildren. In the winter of 2015, Guyon underwent a leg amputation during an eight-month-long hospital stay. As a result, she required a wheelchair. However, when interviewed on her 105th birthday in 2016, she remained optimistic: “Hey yes, I’m 105 years old, I’m so lucky! I continue to navigate the house in a wheelchair. And when there is sun, I look for it!“ When asked about the secret of her longevity on her 106th birthday, she attributed it to good humor and hard work. At the age of 108, she was still interested in the news from France and the world. She commended: “What do I think about the state of the world? It’s not very promising! Workers are left without jobs and can’t do what they want… Personally, I worked for years to earn a modest income, so I have a small pension, so there’s no need to do anything crazy.“
Guyon passed away in Saint-Éliph, Eure-et-Loir Department, Centre-Val de Loire Region, France, on 25 November 2023, at the age of 112 years.
