Iowa Woman Believed To Be Oldest In U.S. Dies At 115 Years Old

LAKE CITY, Iowa (AP) – An Iowa woman who was believed to be the oldest living person in the U.S. has died at the age of 115.

Lampe & Powers Funeral Home in Lake City confirms that Bessie Laurena Hendricks, of Lake City, died Tuesday at the Shady Oaks Care Center. Hendricks celebrated her 115th birthday at the home on Nov. 7 and was listed last year by the Los Angeles-based Gerontology Research Group as the country’s oldest living person until her death.

Born in 1907, Hendricks was alive to witness news of the sinking of the Titanic, World War I and II, the Great Depression and both the Spanish flu and COVID-19 pandemics.