ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, April 27, 1996 TAG: 9604290043
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-3 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: HAMDEN, CONN.
TYPE: NEWS OBIT
Mary Electa Bidwell, the oldest-living American, has died at age 114.
Bidwell, who was born May 9, 1881, when James Garfield was president and Queen Victoria ruled half the world, died Thursday at a convalescent home here.
When Bidwell was recognized by the Guinness Book of Records as the oldest-living American in November 1995, she said she did not have the answer to her longevity, but that she never drank or smoked. She said she loved fresh fruit and hot coffee.
Once asked to name the greatest achievement attained by women, she replied: ``The vote!'' She said she cast her first ballot in the 1920 presidential election, voting for Warren G. Harding.
A former schoolteacher in Watertown, Bidwell said her main loves in life were books and her family. Her husband of 69 years, Charles, died at 93 in 1975.
Their only child, Charles Bradford Bidwell, died in 1945.
- Associated Press
LENGTH: Short : 31 linesby CNB