Mexico’s oldest woman — and perhaps oldest in the world — dies at 124

September 14, 2018

Doña Soccoro might have been world's oldest woman.

Mexico’s oldest woman, Socorro Medrano Guevara, died yesterday at the ripe old age of 124 in Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas. She might also have been the world’s oldest woman and the oldest person ever.

Born in San Luis Potosí on June 17, 1894, Doña Socorrito, as her relatives and friends affectionately called her, had 21 children, including sets of twins and triplets. The word among her family members is that Medrano had approximately 90 grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

Only four of her children are still alive; her husband died in 1975.

Medrano’s health started to deteriorate over the last few weeks. One of her daughters told the newspaper El Universal that when the elderly woman started to refuse meals, medical intervention was requested.

Another woman from Tamaulipas, Leandra Becerra Lumbreras, was Mexico’s oldest woman until she died in 2015 at the age of 127. She, too, might have been not only the oldest woman in the world but the oldest person in recorded history.

But neither is on the list of verified oldest women on Wikipedia. The oldest woman ever whose age has been verified was Jeanne Calment of France, who died in 1997 at 122. She has also been verified as the oldest person ever.

The oldest of the six living women on the list is Kane Tanaka of Japan, aged 115.