Mary Archives

LongeviQuest recently reviewed the case of Mary Curley of the United States– a previously validated supercentenarian who was a former longevity record-holder for the U.S. state of Minnesota (1992–2008). She was born in Chicago, Illinois, United States on 24 April 1867 and passed away in Waseca, Minnesota, United States on 29 May 1994.

Her case was researched by the Kestenbaum Study and validated by the Gerontology Research Group, with a birthdate of 21 November 1882, and a final age of 111 years, 189 days. However, in November 2023, following a thorough review of documentation uncovered by Jimmy Lindberg, the Global Validation Commission reached the conclusion that Curley’s claimed date of birth (21 November 1880) was accurate.

On 8 July 1990, following the death of 111-year-old Alice Barwise of Minneapolis, she became the oldest living person in the U.S. state of Minnesota.

On 22 April 1992, at the age of 111 years, 153 days, she surpassed Barwise’s final age, becoming the oldest known person to ever live in Minnesota. She subsequently became the first person in the state to reach the ages of 112 and 113. She held this record until her final age was surpassed by Catherine Hagel on 5 June 2008.

For more information, please view Mary Curley’s Directory Profile here.

LongeviQuest is pleased to announce the age validation of Mary Moles of Canada at age 110. She was born in Batteaux, Simcoe County, Ontario, Canada on 15 July 1907. She was a sister to 5 siblings, a wife, and a mother to 2 children.

On her 109th birthday in 2016.
(Source: Simcoe.com)

Mary obtained her teaching degree in 1927 and started her teaching career at a one-room schoolhouse in Tiverton, where she taught grades 1 to 8. However, she had to return to Clearview to help her parents during the Great Depression. She moved to other schools during this time. In 1941, she retired to raise her 2 daughters. But in 1952, she resumed her teaching profession, spending another 16 years teaching at two different schools before retiring in 1968 at the age of 61. She lived on her own until 1987 when she moved in with her daughter and son-in-law.

Moles passed away in Batteaux, Simcoe County, Ontario, Canada, on 7 March 2018, at the age of 110 years, 235 days. She was survived by her two daughters, four grandchildren, and two great-grandsons.

LongeviQuest congratulates Mary Moles’s family on her posthumous recognition.

For more information, please view Moles’s Directory Profile here.

LongeviQuest is pleased to announce the age validation of Mary Provost of the United States at age 111. She was born in Greenwich, Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States on 19 January 1912. She was a sister to four siblings.

Provost moved to Greenwich in 1951 and witnessed the construction of I-95 through Bruce Park. She worked as a phone company operator, a waitress, and a switchboard operator for Empire Brush Works. In her later years, she volunteered for Meals on Wheels and at Nathaniel Witherell, a Greenwich nursing home. On 8 April 1972, aged 60, she married her husband.

Provost-Slocum on her 103rd birthday

On her 103rd birthday, Provost was featured in an article alongside her two sisters, Grace and Millie. The article commemorated the unveiling of a bench in local Pemberwick Park (installed shortly before her 103rd birthday) dedicated to the three sisters. Provost’s 110th birthday was also recognized by Fred Camillo, the First Selectman for Greenwich, Connecticut. The TODAY Show also noted her 110th birthday in a segment.

Provost became the oldest known living person in Connecticut following the death of 110-year-old Antoinette Davis on Christmas Day 2021. She would reach supercentenarian status a little over three weeks later. Provost passed away in Greenwich, Connecticut, on 18 June 2023 at the age of 111 years, 150 days.

LongeviQuest congratulates Mary Provost’s family on her posthumous recognition.

For more information, please view Mrs. Provost’s Directory Profile here.

LongeviQuest recently reviewed the case of Mary Bidwell of the United States – a previously validated supercentenarian who held the title of the oldest individual from the U.S. state of Connecticut passing on 25 April 1996, at the age of 114.

Initially, Guinness World Records validated Bidwell’s birthdate as 19 May 1881. However, after a thorough review of documents discovered by Jimmy Lindberg, the Global Validation Commission concluded that she was actually born ten days earlier, on 9 May 1881. This was the date that Bidwell had always claimed as her birthdate. Therefore, her final age was not 114 years, 342 days, but 114 years, 352 days.

To this day she still holds the record for being the oldest individual from the U.S. state of Connecticut, both in terms of birthplace and deathplace.

For more information, please view Bidwell’s Directory Profile here.

LongeviQuest is pleased to announce the age validation of Mary Mack of the United States at age 110. She was born in Mary Penn in Terry, Mississippi, USA, on 2 April 1909. As a girl, she picked cotton by hand on the family farm. She also had three brothers and ten sisters.

On her 105th birthday.
(Source: Peoria Journal Star)

Mack was a wife and a mother to 12 children. The family lived in a small home where they used the fireplace as a stove, and owned an ice box refrigerator made of wood, several feet high with one handle on the cabinet door. To support her children, Mack started an in-house daycare, charging $1 per child per day. She babysat over 50 children over several decades.

Mack passed away in Peoria, Illinois, USA, on 2 August 2019, at the age of 110 years, 122 days. She was survived by 1 younger sister, 10 children (six sons and four daughters), and an unspecified number of grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and great-great-grandchildren. At the time of death, she was among the oldest living people in the U.S. state of Illinois.

LongeviQuest congratulates Mrs. Mary Mack’s family on her posthumous recognition.

For more information, please view Mrs. Mack’s Directory Profile here.

LongeviQuest is pleased to announce the age validation of Mary Horton of Canada at age 110. She was born in Chesterton, Staffordshire, England, United Kingdom on 4 February 1879.

In 1905, Horton married her husband in London and they had four children. The family moved to Canada in 1910 and settled in Nelson, British Columbia. At the age of 107, she lived with her daughter in the neighborhood of West End.

On her 110th birthday in 1989, with her daughter Nora Davis.
(Source: The Vancouver Sun)

Horton passed away in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, on 26 February 1989, at the age of 110 years, 22 days. She was survived by her four children, 5 grandchildren, and eight great-grandchildren.

LongeviQuest congratulates Mary Horton’s family on her posthumous recognition.

For more information, please view Horton’s rectory Profile here.

LongeviQuest is pleased to announce the age validation of Mary Marsh of the United States. She was born in Thaxton, Bedford County, Virginia, United States on 8 October 1905. Mrs. Marsh was the second of nine siblings. She grew up on a 129-acre farm where her family raised tomatoes for a local canning factory.

On her 110th birthday.
(Source: WSET)

At the age of 14, she joined and served at Shady Grove Baptist Church until she was 18. Afterward, she became a lifetime member of the First Baptist Church of Lynchburg. Mrs. Marsh also went to night school to take refresher courses in reading, writing, arithmetic, and English to become a bookkeeper. This is where she met her husband, Osby Edgar Marsh. The couple had three children, while also raising one of her nephews as her own child.

At the age of 105, she was still working in her small garden, still was still able to do canning, cooking, and sewing. When asked about the secret of her longevity, she attributed it to: “The Lord, my family, hard work, and good homegrown food…”.

Mrs. Marsh passed away on 4 September 2016 in Lynchburg in Virginia, United States at the age of 110 years, 332 days. She was survived by her daughter, eight grandchildren, 16 great-grandchildren, 18 great-great-grandchildren, and one great-great-great-granddaughter.

LongeviQuest congratulates Mrs. Marsh’s family on her posthumous recognition.

For more information, please view Mrs. Marsh’s Directory Profile here.

Longeviquest is pleased to confirm that Mary Harris recently celebrated her birthday on the 13th of May 2023 at the age of 112 years old and is now the oldest living person in the U.S. State of Tennessee. She was born in Ithaca, New York, USA on 13 May 1911. Mrs. Harris was born premature, and the doctor said that she was too little and would not live. However, she defied the odds and has lived a long and full life.

She married James Richard Harris in 1937 and they had two daughters. The couple ran a dry-cleaning business and dairy farm in New York and Harris worked as the bookkeeper both times. At the age of 77, Mrs. Harris began painting and has since become a talented artist and has had her work displayed in several exhibitions. In 2003, her husband died at the age of 90. Her family continued to grow and today she has five grandchildren and 12 great-grandchildren.

On her 110th birthday, holding a letter signed by Pope Francis.
(Source: WRCBtv)

On her 110th birthday, Harris received a letter from Pope Francis. The Pope congratulated Harris on her long life and praised her for her dedication to her family and community. Harris was deeply touched by the Pope’s letter and said that it was the highlight of her birthday.

For more information, please view Mary Haris’s Directory Profile here.

LongeviQuest has validated the age claim for Mary Maiurino (1907-2019) of the U.S. state of New York. Mrs. Maiurino was born in Syracuse, New York in 1907 and passed away in nearby Fayetteville, New York in 2019 at the age of 112. The daughter of Italian immigrants (birth surname Giannuzzi), Mrs. Maiurino was married in 1934 to Anthony Maiurino, with whom she had two children.

Undated.
(Source: Farone & Son Inc)

Note: claimed date of birth 28 October 1907; validated with the date of birth 24 October 1907.