Soeur André passed away on the morning of the 17th of January in the retirement home of Sainte Catherine Labouré in Toulon where she had been living for the last 13 years. When she died she was the world’s oldest verified living person.
She was born Lucile Randon on the 11th of February 1904; the same year the “entente cordiale” was signed between France and the UK. She was born into a protestant family, her grand father being a pastor, but converted to Catholicism in 1923.
This photo was taken in the 1920s around the time when she converted from protestantism to catholicism.
She joined the Societas Filiarum Caritatis a Sancto Vincentio de Paulo (Daughters of Charity) in 1944 when she took the name Soeur Andre in honour of her brother.
Her first mission after World War II was at a hospital in Vichy serving orphans and seniors for a period of 18 years, after which she served at another hospital in the Drome. When she retired in 1979 she entered an old person’s home where she actually looked after other elderly residents until she was 100.
She moved to the Ste. Catherine Labouré retirement home when she was 105. It was after she made this final move that she became blind and started using a wheelchair.
Her successor in being the world’s oldest verified person is Maria Branyas who, at the time of this writing, is 115 years old. Born in Spain she now lives in San Francisco.