Neva Morris, Oldest Living Person in the U.S., dies at 114

Ames, Iowa - Neva Morris (née Freed) died this morning at a nursing home in Ames.  She was 114.

114.

I'm 38 and I feel like shit most of the time.  How does it work out when you check in every morning at a buck-fourteen?  Everyone you knew throughout your life is dead, including, most likely, your kids, your spouse (unless you were using your head back in your 70s and picked up a newer model, ifyaknowhatimsayin') and all of your friends.  You're most likely blind, deaf, incontinent, and senile.  And those are all just the good things.  Here are some interesting factoids related to the life of Mrs. Morris.

• The automobile wouldn't be patented for another three months after Neva was born.
• The last living man born in 1895 died in September 2009, in Japan, at the age of 113.  I guess you've gotta vie for a newer model at that point.
• The average Civil War veteran was in his mid-fifties in 1895.
• Grover Cleveland (pictured) was serving his second non-consecutive term as President of the United States in 1895.  As you can see, that sweet 'stache wasn't just for NASCAR® fans back then.
• Today, teenagers are legally allowed to drive an automobile in most U.S. States at the age of 16.  When Neva was 16, none of the 46 states required the driver of an automobile to have a license.
• Neva was married for three years before the U.S. entered World War I.
• She had four children - only one, her youngest, outlived her.  He is 82.
• As a woman, Neva would not be given the right to vote in the United States until 1920 when she was 25 years old.  Until that time, only men were explicitly given the right to vote.
• When the U.S. Stock Market crashed, Neva was 34 years old.
• When the U.S. entered WWII, she was 46.
• Televisions weren't common in households until Neva was in her 60s.
• She surpassed the average life-span of an American woman in 1967 during the presidential administration of Lyndon B. Johnson.
• Neva purchased her final car - a Mercury Marquis (surprise) - in 1985 at the age of 90.  She would continue to drive, accident free, for another five years before voluntarily giving it up.
• Neva lived to see the rise and fall of Communism as an adult.
• She was 100 years old when the Internet became commonly available to non-academics.
• Using a base age of 16 years, Neva Morris is old enough to be the great great great great great great great-grandmother (or great⁷-grandmother) of a child born in 2010.

As of this writing, the oldest living human is Kama Chinen, born 10 May 1895 in Japan.  Ms. Chinen, who still resides in Japan, is 114 years, 332 days old.  The oldest living American is now Eunice Sanborn (b. 20 Jul 1896), 113, and the oldest living man is 113 year-old Walter Breuning (b. 21 Sep 1896) of Great Falls, Montana.  Wikipedia keeps a running list of supercentenarians here.