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Obituary: Sarah Knauss, World's oldest person was tranquil, 'elegant'
Friday, December 31, 1999 The Associated Press
HARRISBURG -- Sarah Knauss, listed in the Guinness Book of Records as the world's oldest person, died yesterday at the age of 119, said a spokeswoman at the Allentown nursing home where she lived.
Mrs. Knauss, who was 28 when Henry Ford introduced the Model T in 1908, apparently died of natural causes at about 3 p.m., said Marcella Moyer Schick, executive director of the Pheobe-Devitt Homes Foundation.
"She died quietly in her room. She was not ill," she said. "They had stopped in to see her just less than an hour before, and when the nurse went back, she had passed away."
Mrs. Knauss, who was born Sept. 24, 1880, and lived a quiet life as a homemaker and insurance office manager, was catapulted into the international spotlight when the Guinness Book of Records declared her the world's oldest person in 1998 upon the death of Marie-Louise Febronie Meilleur of Quebec, who was 117.
"Sarah was an elegant lady and worthy of all the honor and adulation she has received," said Joseph Hess, an administrator at the Phoebe Home. "The staff loved Sarah as a member of their own families and will all be a long time in adjusting to her passing."
Born in Hollywood, a Luzerne County coal town, Mrs. Knauss lived through seven U.S. wars, the sinking of the Titanic and Lindbergh's solo flight across the Atlantic.
She was older than both the Brooklyn Bridge and the Statute of Liberty and was 88 when Neil Armstrong walked on the moon in July 1969.
When asked in a 1995 interview if she enjoyed her longevity, Mrs. Knauss said: "I enjoy it because I have my health and I can do things."
Mrs. Knauss is survived by a 96-year-old daughter, Kitty Sullivan of Allentown, who described her mother in a 1988 interview as a tranquil person.
"That's why she's living this long," Ms. Sullivan said.
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