World’s oldest person who savored a glass of wine every day has died aged 118

The world’s oldest person, French nun Lucile Randon, has died aged 118.

Known as Sister Andre after joining a Catholic charity order in 1944, she died in her sleep in a nursing home in Toulon, France.

Born in 1904, she experienced two world wars and survived two global pandemics – the 1918 Spanish flu and most recently Covid-19, the oldest person to do so.

David Tavella, spokesman for the Sainte-Catherine-Laboure care home, told AFP: “There is great sadness but … it was her wish to join her beloved brother. For them it is a liberation.”

Randon grew up with two brothers in a Protestant family before the siblings were separated when the boys were sent to serve in World War I.

Speaking to AFP about her 116th^th On her birthday, she revealed that one of her fondest memories was her safe return: “It was rare, in families there were usually two dead instead of two alive.

‘They both came back.’

She converted to Catholicism and was baptized at the age of 26. She later took the name Sister Andre in honor of one of her brothers, who had died by that time.

The nun worked as a teacher and governess during her young years and spent much of World War II looking after children.

After the end of the war she was admitted to a hospital in Vichy, where she worked for 31 years.

Her days in the nursing home were spent in prayer, meals, and visits from residents and hospice workers.

Nursing home workers also revealed that she enjoyed a glass of wine every day.

In one of her last interviews there last spring, she told reporters: “People say work kills, for me work kept me alive, I kept working until I was 108 years old.”

Although she lost her sight and was dependent on a wheelchair to get around, she was still devoted to caring for elderly people much younger than her.

“People should help each other and love each other instead of hating each other,” she said.

“If we shared all that, everything would be much better.”

She was Europe’s oldest person for some time, but was listed as the world’s oldest in the Guinness Book of World Records last year after the death of Kane Tanaka, a Japanese woman who died aged 119.

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