Iowa woman believed to be oldest in US dies aged 115

This image made from video, provided by KCCI 8 News in Des Moines, Iowa, shows Bessie Laurena Hendricks, center, celebrating her 115th birthday in November 2022. Hendricks, an Iowa woman who was believed to be the oldest living person in the U.S., died Tuesday, Jan. 3, 2023, at the age of 115. (KCCI 8 News via AP)

An Iowa woman who was believed to be the oldest living person in the US has died at the age of 115.

Bessie Laurena Hendricks, of Lake City, died on Tuesday at the Shady Oaks Care Centre, according to Lampe & Powers Funeral Home in Lake City.

Ms Hendricks celebrated her 115th birthday at the home on November 7 and was listed last year by the Los Angeles-based Gerontology Research Group as the country’s oldest living person until her death.

Bessie Laurena Hendricks celebrating her 115th birthday in November (KCCI 8 News/AP)

Born in 1907 in west-central Iowa’s Calhoun County, Ms Hendricks was alive to witness news of the sinking of the Titanic, the First and Second World Wars, the Great Depression and both the Spanish flu and Covid-19 pandemics.

She was a teacher in a one-room schoolhouse there and the mother of five children, according to the Des Moines Register.

She is survived by three of her children.

A funeral service for Ms Hendricks will be held at Lampe & Powers Funeral Home on Saturday.

The Gerontology Research Group reports that Ms Hendrick’s death leaves 114-year-old Edie Ceccarelli, of California, as the country’s oldest living person.