Emma Tillman
| Emma Tillman | |
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Emma Tillman aged 114 with great-grand daughter Carol Stewart
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| Born |
November 22, 1892 Gibsonville, North Carolina, U.S. |
| Died | January 28, 2007 (aged 114 years, 67 days) East Hartford, Connecticut, U.S. |
| Occupation | Baker, caterer |
| Title | World's oldest person (January 24, 2007 until January 28, 2007) |
| Spouse(s) | Arthur Tillman (married: 1914-1939 his death) |
Emmaline "Emma" Fanchon Tillman, (née Faust; November 22, 1892 – January 28, 2007) was an American supercentenarian and, at age 114 years 67 days, the oldest validated living person from the death of 115-year-old Puerto Rican man Emiliano Mercado del Toro on January 24, 2007 until her own death four days later.
Tillman was one of 23 children born to former slaves in Gibsonville, North Carolina. Her maiden name, Faust, had been adopted from the plantation owner who owned her father's family before the Civil War, Cane Faust. The family moved to Glastonbury, Connecticut in 1900, where Tillman became the only African-American attending Glastonbury High School, graduating in 1909 as the first African-American to do so there. Tillman ran her own baking and catering service, sometimes serving meals for visiting state dignitaries, and whose regular customers included Dr. Thomas Hepburn, a noted Hartford Hospital urologist and father to actress Katharine Hepburn, who she served as the family cook for a number of years. Her husband died in 1939. Four of her siblings lived past age 100, including a brother who lived to be 108, a sister who reached 105 and two others who reached 102.
Throughout her lifetime, Tillman was involved in various NAACP social programs and the National Council of Negro Women.
The day before her 110th birthday, North Carolinian Governor John G. Rowland proclaimed that her birthday, November 22, would be known within the state as "Emma Tillman Day".
Tillman was a parishioner at the Metropolitan A.M.E. Zion Church for more than 80 years, where she became informally known as the "mother" of the church and the A.M.E. Conference as a whole.
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