Second oldest person dies

For a few months, Charlotte Benkner was thought to be the oldest person in the world.
STAFF/WIRE REPORTS
NORTH LIMA -- The Mahoning Valley's symbol for longevity, Charlotte Benkner, has died at age 114.
The Guinness Book of Records recognized Benkner as the oldest person in the world in November, but it replaced her with a Puerto Rican woman last month. She died Friday in St. Elizabeth Health Center.
Her nephew's wife, Mary O'Hare of Boardman, said Sunday that Benkner had been in the hospital for the past 21/2 weeks.
"She was having some small problems, and we thought we were going to be bringing her home this week," O'Hare said. "She was actually in good health, we thought, but who knows what the Lord wants or doesn't want. Friday she just had some breathing problems and I guess it just overtook her."
Benkner had been living at Glenellen Senior Suites and Villas-Lakeside retirement home in North Lima.
Her beginnings
Benkner was born Nov. 16, 1889, in Leipzig, Germany, and came to the United States in 1895. She moved with her family to Peekskill, N.Y., where they ran a restaurant. She and her husband, Karl, moved to Youngstown, where he had a job at United Engineering Co.
About 125 people turned out for her 114th birthday party last November, including two gerontologists. She received a mountain of cards from throughout the United States and a certificate from Gov. Bob Taft.
In February, Benkner received a summons for jury duty. Her hearing and eyesight -- most days she saw only shadows -- prevented her service.
She spent her final years rooming with her last living sibling of 11, Matilda O'Hare, who died in January at the age of 99. She would have turned 100 the next month.
The two always ate their meals side by side and recited the Lord's Prayer in unison. Both loved music, especially symphonies and the Boston Pops. Benkner's favorite television program was "The Lawrence Welk Show."
The last one
"After her sister died she would say often, 'I am the only one left of all my brothers and sisters. What am I doing here?'" Mary O'Hare said. "She just got very lonely even though we saw her on a daily basis. It wasn't the same as her sisters."
Benkner attributed her longevity to genes -- Benkner's mother died six weeks before her 100th birthday, her father at 92 and her brother George at 98 -- and a healthy lifestyle.
"She's always been one that must have a good breakfast. She'll have her cereal and juice, sometimes eggs," Mary O'Hare said last November, noting also that she never drank or smoked, and was careful about the sun."
Over her 114 years, Benkner witnessed a lot of changes in the world, her niece said. "She says the best invention was the washer and dryer for the women, because they always had to work so hard. & quot;
Her fondest memory was "the love she received from her parents," O'Hare said.
Guinness book
Guinness initially recognized Benkner as the world's oldest person upon the death Nov. 13, 2003, of Mitoyo Kawate of Japan, at 114. Guinness then gave that distinction to Ramona Trinidad Iglesias Jordan on April 22, after a baptismal certificate showed she was born on Aug. 31, 1889.
Benkner and her husband of 56 years had no children.
In 1969, she moved to Tucson, Ariz., after her husband died. Matilda O'Hare moved in with her a year later, and they lived together for 30 years before moving to North Lima to be close to O'Hare's son, George, of Boardman.
Survivors include five other nephews, three nieces and several great-nephews and great-nieces, according to Fox Funeral Home.
Services were planned for 7 p.m. today at Fox Funeral Home in Boardman, with calling hours from 3 to 7 p.m. Benkner's body then will be taken to Peekskill for burial Wednesday.
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