Sister Andre obituary: World’s oldest person dies aged 118 after surviving two pandemics

Nun Lucile Randon lived through two world wars and 18 French presidents - and worked until she was 108

The world's oldest known person Lucile Randon has died aged 118 (AFP via Getty Images)

Two world wars and two pandemics are just a few of the many historic events witnessed by Sister Andre during her 118 years.

Born Lucile Randon on 11 February 1904 in Ales, the world’s oldest person has passed away in her sleep just a few weeks short of her 119th birthday.

The only daughter in a Protestant family with three brothers, the year of her birth saw the opening of New York’s first subway line, the beginning of work on the Panama Canal and the signing of the Entente Cordiale between Britain and France.

Sister Andre on the eve of her 117th birthday in 2021 (AFP/Getty)

When she was 12 years-old she became a governess to three children in Marseille, a year before the outbreak of World War I.

“I’ve had plenty of unhappiness in life and during the 1914-1918 war when I was a child, I suffered like everyone else,” she told French radio in 2020.

But in an interview on her 116th birthday, she said one of her fondest memories was the return of her brothers at the end of the conflict.

In 1944, towards the end of World War II, she joined the Catholic charitable order Daughters of Charity, and took the name of Sister Andre. She would go on to look after orphans in a hospital in Vichy, Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes for 28 years.

Sister Andre retired from full time work in 1979 and then devoted herself caring for the elderly until she was 100, despite being blind and partially death in her later years as well as wheelchair-bound.

The late nun was born in the year of the opening of New York’s first subway (AP)

In 2009, at the age of 105, she moved into a nursing home in Toulon, having been made an honorary citizen of the city.

In April 2022 she became the world’s oldest person at the age of 118 and 73 days, and also claimed the record for the oldest survivor of Covid-19, having also lived through the Spanish Flu in 1918.

Sister Andre was the second-oldest European person ever recorded, around four years short of the record 122 years and 164 days set by Jeanne Calment – the oldest person in history.

One of her fondest memories was the return of her brothers at the end of World War I (AFP via Getty Images)

The nun claimed her secret to long life was work. “They say that work kills, me it was work that made me live, I worked until I was 108”, she said last year.

Following her death, María Branyas of San Francisco, California, becomes the world’s oldest person at 115.