Delina Filkins

Who was Delina Filkins?

Delina Filkins, née Ecker, was an American supercentenarian who was the earliest verified person to reach the ages of 112 and 113, in 1927 and 1928, respectively. Filkins was the first verified person to surpass the longest confirmed lifespan by two years. She was also the first supercentenarian to outlive another supercentenarian, in fact she outlived two: Miriam Bannister and Demetrius Philiphovitch. Her case was thoroughly investigated in the 1970s and re-investigated in 2005, and found to be fully verifiable. In fact, the number of documents located make this the second-most verified case of all time, after Jeanne Calment.

Filkins's age in 1928, 113, would not be reached again until Betsy Baker attained it in 1955, and Filkins' record stood for more than 50 years - by far the longest period a person has held the record as the oldest undisputed person ever. Filkins' age was 113 years 214 days at the time of her death in Richland Springs, New York.