August 21, 2006.
Oldest man
Emiliano Mercado Del Toro sits as his great niece Dolores Martinez helps put on his old U.S. Army veteran hat, and her son Arturo looks on, in preparation for his 115th birthday party, at Del Toro's home in Isabela, Puerto Rico, on Aug. 21. Mercado, born on Aug. 21, 1891 and certified the oldest man in the world by the Guinness Book of World Records, is also the oldest living veteran. He didn't see action because, called up in 1918, he was two months into U.S. Army training when World War I ended Nov. 11, 1918. He was married three times but never had children.
Death of a supercentenarian
http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/08/29/opinion/edage.php
On Sunday, the oldest woman in the world died at age 116 in an Ecuadorian hospital. Her name was María Esther de Capovilla, and she was born in September 1889. We are all aware that there will be an end to our lives, but Capovilla's death is a reminder of how absolute the boundary of human longevity really is. The body has its own term limits, a point at which the warranty expires and something furls up inside you. The woman who succeeds Capovilla as the oldest woman on earth is also 116, and the oldest person on record died at 122.
Sonny Hendricks, an Amerindian, is Guyana's oldest man (click 0n)
Wednesday, August 9th 2006
Dear Editor,
Minister Bibi Shadick must be highly commended for her visit and gift to the 110 year old Mathilda Lewis to whom I also tender congratulations and sincere best wishes. While that lady is Guy-ana's oldest woman, this country's oldest man is the 106-year-old Sonny Hendricks, an Amerindian who resides with his 65 year-old widowed daughter, Ethel Primus, at Lethem in the Rupununi District.
In 1954, when there was an outbreak of Foot and Mouth disease in Brazil, he assisted in the erection of several miles of barbed wire fence, along our western border with Brazil, to prevent our cattle from being affected with that disease.
At his farm at Moco Moco village, in 1955, Sonny Hendricks accepted Govern-ment's invitation and became the first person to successfully cultivate rice in the hinterland of this country.
As there was no sawmill or chain saw available in the Rupununi District while I was stationed there as a Public Works Department officer from 1954 to 1959, Sonny Hendricks with saw pit and gang saws, was the sole supplier of all sawn lumber for the construction of all government building that were being constructed at Lethem, St Ignatius, Good Hope and Annai at that time.
Today, at 106-years-old, he still manages to cultivate a little kitchen garden to assist with the normal old age pension he receives from Govern-ment. Could anything better be done for him?
Yours faithfully,
Rockcliffe Patrick Pitt
Editor's note
We are sending a copy of this letter to Minister Shadick for her information.
