Jamaican woman at 117 is the world’s oldest human alive

Violet Brown spent much of her life cutting sugarcane in the fields around her home in western Jamaica. She attended church regularly, avoids pork and chicken and celebrated her 117th birthday last month. On Saturday, she is believed to have become the world's oldest living person following the death of Emma Morano of Italy, born on November 29, 1899. Brown is considered to be the oldest person in the world with credible birth documentation, according to Robert Young, director of the supercentenarian research and database division at Gerontology Research Group, a network of volunteer researchers into the world's oldest people. Brown has not yet been declared the world's oldest by Guinness World Records. She is able to sit up by herself and walk short distances, and, while is hard of hearing; she offered swift, complete responses to questions about her life and family.