Oldest Resident Of Illinois Dies At 111

EVANSTON (STMW) -- Evelyn Margaret Ralston, 111, of Evanston, the 52nd oldest person on the planet with a verified date of birth, died peacefully in her sleep on Wednesday.

At the time of her death, Ralston was the oldest Illinois resident, and the 17th oldest in the United States, according to tables maintained by the Los Angeles Gerontology Research Group.

Researchers estimate there may be 300 to 450 people in the world over 110, but their birth dates are not verified. Of the world's 84 verified people older than 110, 80 are female.

Born Oct. 17, 1899. Ralston was the third child of Peter W. Ralston, a land surveyor, and Hannah Jane McAffee, a housewife.

In recent years, Ralston cooperated with Boston University Medical Center's New England Centenarian Study researchers, funded by the National Institute of Health, to learn more about longevity.

When Ralston joined the longevity study, director, Dr. Thomas T. Perls, wrote to Ralston's niece, Elizabeth A. P. Ralston: "(Evelyn Ralston) is a very rare individual. We strongly believe that she will greatly assist our research of healthy aging."

The research is expected to help avoid age-related diseases such as Alzheimer's disease, cancer and stroke.

When she was born, Chicago streets were not paved, and there were no telephones. It would be eight years before her Chicago Cubs would win the first of their two back-to-back World Series Championships in 1907 and 1908. In eras when being a home-based wife was common, she was a single working woman with her own life. Female life expectancy in 1899 was about 48 years and is about 80.8 years today.

She always liked to look good when she went out even though she rarely left the Mather, where she lived in her apartment. As she wrote in a 1998 letter: "You know it makes a person feel good to be well dressed and make an impression on people."

Born at home, 4328 Lowell Ave. in Chicago, Ralston inherited the place when her parents died. Homes did not have indoor plumbing. She recalled horses pulled peddler wagons down the street selling foods such as coffee, strawberries, fish, as well as cups and dishes. Rag collectors also would call out for discarded iron.

The family's brown chickens provided white eggs and their garden was an important source of food. When she was born, only 2,500 cars were built in the entire country. By the time Route 66 opened to the west coast in 1926, her family owned a Model A Ford.

"I learned how to drive," she said.

When she was 15, she helped her brothers move their cattle in a vehicle driven using multiple pedals and shift.

Ralston's sister, Dorothy, died at 19 of scarlet fever, but brothers Thomas, Kenneth and William died at 96, 95, and 80 years of age respectively. Her dad died at 91.

Ralston arrived in Evanston in 1953 where she lived until retirement. A secretary-stenographer at the World Service headquarters of the Methodist Church in Evanston for 43 years, now known as United Methodist Church, she helped provide education materials to missionary preachers throughout the world.

During the Great Depression in the 1930s, she and colleagues took salary cuts to keep their jobs. She was careful with money and paid her parents room and board. When she sold the family home she inherited in 1950, she invested about $10,000 in stocks (the equivalent of $91,000 today) she heard others touting as good investments, such as IBM, Commonwealth Edison, AT&T and other well known companies.

As the stocks she bought for mere dollars gained in value and split over the next few decades, Ralston was able to secure the fundamental core of her retirement savings. Her stocks supplemented her Methodist pension check and her Social Security check.

For 22 years she lived quietly at the Mather, an independent living and retirement home she liked very much. With friends, she would travel, work on art projects, visit with family, read newspapers and watch Tiger Woods play golf on television as well as professional sports teams like the Bears and Cubs.

In recent months, niece Elizabeth Ralston would visit her. Sometimes family names would come up in the conversation and her aunt would note the person was younger than she is.

Her niece would remind her, "Everyone is younger than you are."

(Source: Sun-Times Media Wire © Chicago Sun-Times 2010. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)