Edith Ceccarelli

Edith Rose Ceccarelli (née Recagno, formerly Keenan; February 5, 1908 – February 22, 2024) was an American supercentenarian. At the age of 116 years and 17 days, she was the oldest person living in the United States and was also the second oldest living person in the world after Maria Branyas Morera from Spain.

Biography Born in Willits, California, on February 5, 1908, Ceccarelli was the eldest of the seven children of Italian immigrants Agostino (1874–1965) and Maria Recagno (1881–1973), who both lived into their 90s. She graduated from Willits Union High School in 1927. She suffered from dementia, but was able to walk with a walker until she was 114. the final being a drive-by parade to mark her 116th birthday in 2024.

Personal life and death In 1933, she married Elmer Keenan, whom she had met in high school, and moved with him to Santa Rosa, California, where he worked as a typesetter for The Press Democrat. She became the oldest living person in the United States when Iowan Bessie Hendricks died in January 2023.

Edith Ceccarelli died on February 22, 2024, at the age of 116. At the time of her death, she was the oldest living American and second oldest living person in the world after Maria Branyas Morera (March 4, 1907 – August 19, 2024). Upon Ceccarelli's death, Elizabeth Francis became the oldest living person in the United States.