Britain has lost its oldest living person after Grace Jones, known to her friends and family as ‘Amazing Grace’, passed away peacefully in her home at the age of 112, BBC News reported.
Her death comes just months after she made headlines for crediting her incredible longevity to drinking whiskey.
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Last August, Grace achieved the oldest living person honor after previous title older, Olive Boar, passed away at 113.
Jones was born in Liverpool on September 16, 1906, just five years after the death of Queen Victoria.
She married her husband, Leonard Roderick Jones, in 1933 and together they had one daughter, Deirdre McCarthy. During her lifetime, she witnessed 26 prime ministers and lived through five monarchs.
In a recent interview, Jones spoke about her memories of World War One and of losing her brother.
She told BBC Points West that she could distinctly remember people crying when they first heard the war had started, and she remembered the celebrations on Armistice Day, signalling the end of the fighting.
She also spoke about losing her brother, Tom, who died serving in Gallipoli.
“He was a lovely brother,” she said. “That was a very sad time.”
Jones and her husband spent most of their 53-year marriage moving around the country.
In total they moved homes 28 times, living in Devonshire, Cheshire, and North Wales. They were together right up until Leonard’s death in 1986 at the age of 79.
“He was a true gentleman, the son of a parson,” Jones said of her husband. “We were always together and we loved one another.”
In 2005, Jones moved into Broadway Care Home in Worcestershire.
It was there that her birthdays began to catch attention from the public and were captured by the media as each passing milestone became more and more impressive.
In September 2018, she gained even more attention for what she revealed is the secret to living a long life.
“I have a little drop of whiskey with a drop of water every night,” she said. “Whiskey is very good for you.”
Jones explained she started enjoying this routinely nightcap when she turned 50, making it a 60-year tried and true method of achieving longer life.
“My doctor said ‘keep up with the whiskey, Grace, it’s good for your heart’.”
Now Jones’ family have announced she died peacefully in her sleep at her home last Friday.
Speaking about her mother, McCarthy, 81, said she was “gracious” and that she never dreamed she would ever see her mom become “the talking point of the entire country.”
“I used to say to my friends ‘she is a piece of history gift-wrapped’,” McCarthy said. “She was wonderful and had a lovely sense of humor…and that’s something somebody should have.”
Her daughter said Jones took every bit of her media attention “in stride.”
“She sat there to do interviews at her party and everyone was lined up in the hall,” McCarthy said. “Mother sat there looking so serene and gorgeous, really dressed up beautifully and each person came in, all the boys with their cameras and lighting and she thought that was great.”
Jones maintained an active lifestyle right up until her final days.
McCarthy said last Wednesday her mom got tired while they played carpet bowls, but she didn’t complain.
“She never grumbled and she was always active,” she said. “She was her usual self last week.”
McCarthy added, “What an age though, 112 and three quarters. She lived a very fulfilling life. She did everything with style.”
h/t: BBC News
