DINH DOONG

Elizabeth Francis, the oldest person in the United States, has died. She was 115.

Her 69-year-old granddaughter and caregiver, Ethel Harrison, told ABC News on Wednesday that Francis died peacefully Tuesday night surrounded by her family.

Harrison told ABC News that Francis was “a person who loved people.”

“She loved God. Her faith was very strong,” Harrison said. “She was always, you know, cheerful, you know, ‘How are you? Are you OK?’ That was just her personality,”

“And she always said, treat people the way you want to be treated. And that was her motto,” she added of her grandmother.

At the time of her death, Francis was the oldest person in the United States and the third oldest person in the world, according to LongeviQuest, a global database of the world’s oldest living people. She lived most of her life in Houston, Texas, according to a press release from the database.

Francis, who was born in 1909 and turned 115 earlier this year, is also known as a “supercentenarian,” a person who has reached the age of 110 or older.

In an interview with ABC Houston KTRK-TV in 2023 to celebrate her 114th birthday, Francis said at the time that despite her age, she still felt young at heart.

“I’m very, very young. Look at me, I’m like a little chicken,” she said.

She shared that her secrets to longevity include not drinking or smoking, but she ate “everything.”

Harrison told KTRK that her grandmother always grew her own vegetables and ate at home instead of eating fast food.

“Whenever you go to her house, I don’t care what day of the week she cooks,” Harrison said. “So I just think that had a lot to do with it. Just the way she took care of her body and things like that.”

Meanwhile, Dorothy Williams, Francis’ 96-year-old daughter, told KTRK at the time that it was “hard to believe” that her mother had turned 114 before calling it “a blessing.”