World's oldest person, ready to rest, dies at 116

Jeralean Talley, born May 23 1899, in Georgia, died peacefully Wednesday evening in her home in a Detroit suburb, said her daughter, Thelma Holloway.

"She was ready to go home and rest," Holloway, aged 77, told the Detroit Free Press. "When she left here, she didn't suffer. She asked the Lord to take her peacefully and he did. Now she's at peace."

Talley was verified as the world's oldest living person by the Gerontology Research Group, an organization that keeps a list of the oldest people in the world.

The previous record-holder, Arkansas resident Gertrude Weaver, died April 6 at the age of 116, according to the group.

Talley's death makes Susannah Mushatt Jones, who lives in New York state, the oldest person in the world, it said.

Born July 6 1899, she is 115 years old and 347 days, making her one of only two people still living whose lives began in the 19th century, according to the group.