Sarah Knauss, The Oldest American To Ever Live
USCSarah Knauss was “unfazed” by the attention she received as the oldest woman in the world in the late 1990s.
Sarah Knauss lived a quiet existence — for an impressively long time. When she died on December 30, 1999 at the age of 119 years and 97 days (just 10 days short of Tanaka’s record), Knauss was the oldest verified person in the world and still holds a record today as the oldest American to ever live.
“Sarah was an elegant lady and worthy of all the honor and adulation she has received,” said Joseph Hess, an administrator at the nursing home where Knauss died, according to the Washington Post.
Worthy, perhaps, but Knauss herself was not particularly impressed by it. The Los Angeles Times reports that when Knauss learned that she was the oldest person alive in 1998, she responded: “So what?”
Public DomainSarah Knauss in 1897, at the age of 17.
“She’s a very tranquil person and nothing fazes her,” Knauss’ daughter, then in her 90s, confirmed. “That’s why she’s living this long.”
Born in 1880 in Pennsylvania, Knauss spent her life out of the spotlight as a homemaker and an insurance office manager. Her passions, according to the Los Angeles Times, included: “watching golf on television, doing needlepoint, and nibbling on milk chocolate turtles, cashews and potato chips.”
Like many people who lived well beyond the age of 100, Sarah Knauss was asked how she enjoyed her long life. In 1995, she replied succinctly: “I enjoy it because I have my health and I can do things.”
