NOTEWORTHY DEATH

Iowan, 115, briefly world’s oldest person

DES MOINES, Iowa - A 115-year-old Iowa woman has died less than two weeks after inheriting the title of world’s oldest person, her family said Monday.

Dina Manfredini, who lived at the Bishop Drumm Retirement Center in Johnston, died Monday morning, according to her granddaughter Lori Logli. Logli would not elaborate on her grandmother’s cause of death, but she said Manfredini had been suffering from a fever.

Guinness World Records confirmed that Manfredini inherited the title of world’s oldest living person less than two weeks ago. Besse Cooper of Georgia previously held the title at age 116.

Logli said her grandmother was known as a great cook who baked Italian bread everySunday for her family, and meticulously made pasta by hand. She called Manfredini a hard worker.

“She was active her whole life,” Logli said. “She was a very giving person.”

Manfredini was born on April 4, 1897, in Italy, according to Guinness officials. She moved to the United States in 1920 and settled in Des Moines with her husband.

She had four children, seven grandchildren and more than a dozen great-grandchildren.

Robert Young, a senior consultant of gerontology for Guinness, said a Japanese man, Jiroemon Kimura, is believed to now hold the title. He was born on April 19, 1897, which makes him just 15 days younger than Manfredini. Young said Kimura, of Kyotango in Kyoto, also is believed to be the second-oldest man in documented history.

Northwest Arkansas, Pages 8 on 12/18/2012

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