Iowan Bessie Hendricks, America's oldest person, dies at 115 in Lake City

Bessie Hendricks of Iowa lived through the roaring '20s, the Great Depression, two World Wars, the dawn of the internet age and a global pandemic.

At age 115, she was believed to be the oldest person in America when she died Tuesday at the Shady Oaks Care Center in Lake City.

Hendricks, who was born Nov. 7, 1907, taught at a one-room schoolhouse in her native Calhoun County. She raised five children, two of whom she outlived.

Back when she turned 112, Hendricks told the Fort Dodge Messenger the secret to her longevity: Work hard, stay away from doctors and make sure to enjoy sweets, like a delicious piece of pie or slice of birthday cake.

A funeral service for Hendricks will be held at the Lampe and Powers Funeral Home in Lake City at 2:30 p.m. Jan. 7. A livestream will be available at the funeral home's website, powersfh.net, according to funeral director Dana Morris.

Morris said the service will include a tribute to Hendricks' incredible life, including readings of memoirs written by her deceased daughter.

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Hendricks' death leaves Edie Ceccarelli of California as the oldest living American, according to a running tally maintained by the Gerontology Research Group in Los Angeles. She is set to turn 115 on Feb. 5.

Iowa home to many centenarians

Hendricks was not the first Iowan to hold the title of oldest person in America. In 2012, Dina Manfredini of Johnston became the oldest person in both the U.S. and the world, also at age 115.

A native of Italy, she raised her family in Des Moines, where her husband worked as a miner for a time and she earned extra money cracking eggs in a food processing plant and working on an assembly line at a munitions plant, filling shells with gunpowder during World War II.

Well into her 90s, Manfredini cleaned houses and shoveled her own driveway on bitter cold winter days.

She and Hendricks were among an abundance of centenarians in Iowa, drawing the attention of researchers.

Centenarians are people who live past 100 years old, according to the Exceptional Longevity Laboratory at Iowa State University. According to 2010 census data, there were 53,364 centenarians living in the United States, comprising about 0.017% of the country's population. Iowa that year recorded 846 centenarians, making up about 0.028% of the state's population, ― a significantly larger, if still tiny, share of the population.

There are many factors which may explain why Iowa is a great place for centenarians to live, according to Peter Martin, a professor at Iowa State whose research specializes in lifespan development and longevity.

"It's because we are frozen half the year," he said with a laugh.

Jokes aside, Martin said Iowa winters really do make people tough, a quality which helps in living past 100.

"Our research has shown in order to be 100 you have to be resilient and robust in your personality in dealing with stress. And that's where the cold weather comes in. We do know how to weather a storm, literally and figuratively," Martin said.

Other factors influencing longevity include genetics; environmental support, including family support and health care; a lower-stress lifestyle; and the ability to get outside and connect with nature, the latter two being qualities Martin said Iowans are particularly lucky to have.

Manfredini and Hendricks were supercentenarians, who are people who live past 110. As of the 2010 census, there were 330 across the country, which is just 0.6% of the centenarian population.

More:Americans' life expectancy continues to fall, erasing health gains of the last quarter century

While living past 110 is rare, Martin said it's a true testament to one's endurance and outlook on life.

"After 115 it gets very difficult," he said. "Every year is really a gift that you get that you could not have expected to get."

Francesca Block is a breaking news reporter at the Des Moines Register. Reach her at FBlock@registermedia.com or on Twitter at @francescablock3.

This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: America's oldest person, Bessie Hendricks, dies at 115 in Lake City