America’s Oldest Man And Woman Die Within Days Of Each Other

White Sox Charities/Twitter/1199SEIU United Healthcare Workers East

With tragic poignancy, America’s oldest man and woman passed away within days of each other. 

CP Crawford, who was born in 1907 in Mississippi, lived to a mighty 112 years old. Alelia Murphy, at an incredible 114 years old, was the oldest person in the country.

Following their deaths, loved ones are paying tributes and sharing their secrets to long, happy lives.

Major League Baseball

CP’s son, Shawn Doston, announced his father’s death on Facebook, writing a touching tribute calling him ‘one of the greatest men whom God has put on this Earth’.

Shawn told The Chicago Sun-Times: 

He was calm, cool and collected. He was a hard worker and was always very respectful of his family and my mother. People would always ask him what the secret was to his longevity, and he would say first put God before anything, eat right and mind your own business.

Murphy – who was born in 1905 in North Carolina before moving to Harlem in 1926 – celebrated her 114th birthday back in July this year (her Harlem community named the day ‘Alelia Murphy Appreciation Day’).

A statement from healthcare union 1199SEIU United Healthcare Workers East read: 

It is with great sadness that we share news of the passing of Mrs Alelia Murphy. Mrs Murphy was the oldest living American, having celebrated her 114th birthday in July, surrounded by her family, friends, community leaders, and members of our AFRAM Caucus.

Our deepest condolences are with Mrs Murphy’s daughter, 1199SEIU Montefiore retiree Rose Green, and with the rest of their family during this difficult time.

At her birthday, Murphy’s granddaughter Nefer Nekhet told PIX11: ‘She’s excited, she said she must be blessed because the Lord kept her here for so long.’

PIX11

Nekhet added:

We ask her: ‘Grandma, you been here for a very long time,’ and she said: ‘I’m here because you all don’t know how to live, I’m here to teach you all how to live and things to do!’

When asked about her secret to living so long, Murphy replied: ‘Trust in God and be a good person.’

After moving into the Tri-State Village nursing home eight years ago, CP was an instant hit with the residents. Also, while he was a life-long White Sox fan, he only attended his first baseball game on his 112th birthday in August.

The nursing home have put up a memorial following his death, with a plaque, photos and letters of congratulations from the White House paying tribute.

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Cameron Frew

After graduating from Glasgow Caledonian University with an NCTJ and BCTJ-accredited Multimedia Journalism degree, Cameron ventured into the world of print journalism at The National, while also working as a freelance film journalist on the side, becoming an accredited Rotten Tomatoes critic in the process. He’s now left his Scottish homelands and took up residence at UNILAD as a journalist.