Apr 6, 2009 4:03 pm US/Pacific
World's Oldest Person Celebrates Another Birthday
LOS ANGELES
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Gertrude Baines, World's Oldest Person at age 115.
CBS
The world's oldest person will celebrate another birthday her home at Western Convalescent Hospital, near downtown Los Angeles.
Gertrude Baines, who was born in 1894 in Shellman, Ga., will turn 115 Monday. Baines reportedly became the world's oldest living person, when 115-year-old Maria de Jesus died in January.
Her father was the son of slaves, and Baines had outlived her entire family. Her only daughter died of typhoid fever when she was a toddler.
A representative of the Guinness Book of World Records will be on hand at Monday's celebration to present Baines with a proclamation acknowledging her as the world's oldest person.
Baines was featured on local television newscasts in November when she cast her ballot for Barack Obama for president, saying she backed him "because he's for the colored." She said she never thought she would live to see a black man become president.
Baines, who worked as a maid in University of Ohio dormitories until her
retirement, has lived at the Convalescent Hospital for more than 10 years.
For more information on the world's oldest people or to see a current table of Worldwide validated living super centenarians, visit the
Gerontology Research Group's Web site.
(© 2008 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Wire services contributed to this report.)
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