America’s New ‘Oldest’ Person Lives In NJ: Adele Dunlap, 113

Say hello to the new “oldest person in America.”

The mantle of the most senior person living in the United States has officially passed to 113-year-old Adele Dunlap of Hunterdon County, New Jersey, reports say.

Dunlap, the youngest of four siblings, was born in Newark on Dec. 12, 1902, graduated from Southside High School in Newark, and lived in Clinton for 12 years. She currently lives at the Country Arch Care Center in Pittstown, NorthJersey.com stated.

In addition to being the oldest senior citizen in America, Dunlap is one of the world’s few “supercentenarians” (aged 110 years or more) and is among the oldest 10 people in the world, according to the Los Angeles-based Gerontology Research Group.

Dunlap offered no explanation for her longevity in reports. But when a reporter asked how it felt to be 113, she had a tongue-in-cheek reply at the ready.

“I’m 104,” Dunlap joked.

She added that she didn’t feel any different knowing that she’s inherited the title of “oldest person in America.”

When asked about the secret of his mother’s long life, her son, Earl Dunlap, responded that it was hard to pin down.

“She never went out jogging or anything like that,” Dunlap said. “She’s not really thin, but she never weighed more than 140 pounds. She smoked, and when my father had his first heart attack, they both stopped. I think she ate anything she wanted.”

Dunlap became the oldest person in the United States after the passing of Massachusetts resident Goldie Corash Michelson, who died a month shy of her 114th birthday on July 8.

Born in 1902 in Elizabethgrad, Russia, Michelson moved to Worcester when she was 2 years old, according to her obituary. She was a theater director, Red Cross teacher and tutor at various points in her life. Of Jewish faith, she volunteered for many community groups.

• See related article: Oldest American Goldie Michelson, 113, Dies in Worcester

SECRETS TO LONGEVITY

After celebrating her 115th birthday, Michigan resident Jeralean Talley credited her long life to following the Golden Rule.

“I want to treat everybody the way I want to be treated. If I give you any advice, that same advice comes back to me,” she said. “I don’t have much education, but what little sense I got, I try to use it.”

• See related article: Secrets to a Long Life From the Oldest Living American Who Celebrated Her 115th Birthday

When she turned 110, Agnes Fenton of Bergen County, revealed that she starts every morning with a breakfast of bacon, sausage, buttered toast and grits.

Fenton also said that she drank three Miller High Life beers and a glass of Johnnie Walker whiskey per day, until her doctors recommended that she lay off the booze.

• See related article: The Secret To Long Life? Bacon, Miller High Life, And Johnnie Walker

During an interview with 115-year-old Jiroemon Kimura of Japan, the supercentenarian claimed his secret to longevity was exercising every day.

“It’s important to make daily exercise a discipline,” Kimura said. “A habit.”

• See related article: 10 Tips for a Healthy Life From the World’s Oldest Person

Video/Photo: NorthJersey.com

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