The oldest woman alive

Yesterday I showed the oldest man alive, and I think it’s appropriate that I also show you the oldest woman alive, who is a French nun, Sister André  Randon. Born Lucile Randon in 1904, she is now 118 years old. Blind and partially deaf, she lives in a nursing home. She was actually baptised as a Protestant, but became Catholic before the war started. She worked as a teacher and governess in Paris, a period she once called the happiest time of her life. Then in 1944, she took  her religious vows with the Daughters of Charity. After the war, she spent 28 years working with orphans and elderly people at a hospital in Vichy, in the Auvergne-Rhone-Alpes region. After already living through the Spanish Flu pandemic in 1918, she tested positive for coronavirus in January 2021, and was quickly isolated in her retirement home to stop the virus spreading. Defying the odds, she shook off the virus after three weeks with no symptoms or side effects other than a little tiredness, in time to celebrate her 117th birthday. According to members of her retirement home, she does like to indulge in a few candies and chocolate, and also has a daily glass of wine. Her birthday is usually celebrated with a Port and chocolate combo. Her secret to her long life is to pray and drink a cup of chocolate every day.