World's oldest person to mark 115th birthday in GA

[August 26, 2011]  MONROE, Ga. (AP) -- A birthday party is planned at a north Georgia nursing home for Besse Cooper, who's listed as the world's oldest person.

Cooper will mark her 115th birthday Friday in Monroe. Family members and a researcher from the Guinness Book of World Records will attend the ceremony. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports (http://bit.ly/rikpbf) Cooper will receive a plaque from the organization that determines the oldest person in the world.

Cooper was declared the world's oldest last January. In May, Guinness learned that Maria Gomes Valentin of Brazil was 48 days older. Valentin died June 21.

Cooper was born in Tennessee and moved to Georgia during World War I to find employment as a teacher. She has 12 grandchildren and more than a dozen great-grandchildren and great-great-grandchildren. Her husband, Luther, died in 1963.

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Information from: The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, http://www.ajc.com/

[Associated Press]

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