Oberia Coffin, who is believed to have been 122, dies
wazzzy
A DeKalb woman who might have been among the oldest in the world died
early Wednesday morning at Wadley Regional Medical Center in Texarkana.
Oberia Coffin, who is believed to have been 122, is listed with the
Social Security Administration as having a birthdate of Dec. 1, 1883.
Coffin's legal guardian, Gwendolyn Traylor, said Coffin had been
taken to the hospital Sunday with fluid in her lungs.
"I know she is not in any kind of pain," Traylor said. "But if
she was ever in any pain, you wouldn't know it. She was always quiet
like."
She was born in Dalby Springs, south of DeKalb, and was the oldest of
13 to 14 siblings. To Traylor's knowledge, she has no living
relatives.
Arrangements for Coffin's funeral are being made through Haynes
Mortuary.
Historically, in 1883, Chester A. Arthur was president, Oran M. Roberts
was governor of Texas and the University of Texas at Austin opened. She
would have also shared her birth year with Italian dictator Benito
Mussolini and fashion designer Coco Chanel.
Unfortunately, her birthdate could never be officially verified with
anything but Social Security records, which she applied for upon
reaching retirement age. That record alone isn't enough to satisfy
the official record books, said Robert Douglas Young, a senior
consultant for Guinness World Records. Young is also a senior claims
investigator for the Gerontology Research Group, an organization that
tracks the oldest people from around the world. The group uses birth
certificates, marriage certificates and photo identification to
validate birth years.
Young said he searched the U.S. Census for data to verify her birthdate
but could not find her name. There may be an explanation, Young said.
"Basically 100 something years ago, there is not accurate data
available for African-Americans," he said. "If she was missed in
the census there was no way to find proof of the information."
Sometimes people during this time were missed by the census because
they were migrant farm workers, Young said. That may have just been the
case. Traylor, who became Coffin's legal guardian three years ago,
said in an interview in May that Coffin had told her about working in
the cotton fields as a young woman.
Traylor said as far as she is concerned, Coffin is 122. She said she
was satisfied by the Social Security records alone. But officially,
Elizabeth "Lizzie" Bolden of Memphis, Tenn., 116, now appears to be
the oldest person alive.
According to the Gerontology Research Group's Website, there are 77
validated supercentenarians alive. To be considered a supercentenarian,
a person must be 110 years or older.
If age verification were easier for people born more than 100 years
ago, Coffin would have likely been the second oldest person in the
world, falling behind Alberta Davis, from Thomson, Ga., who is
reportedly 124 years old, Young said.
Davis faces the same documentation issue Coffin did in substantiating
her age.
Coffin was a resident of Sunny Acres Nursing and Rehabilitation in
DeKalb since 1992. She went to the nursing home after the death of her
sister Caroline Boyde.