The story of a French woman who lived 122 years. How a lawyer wanted to cash in on a lonely old woman, and she even outlived him
Nowadays, there aren’t many people that live a long time. Only a few of people—about a dozen in total—have lived past the age of 110, and even they are still short of the record. The Frenchwoman Jeanne Calman, who lived 122 years, 5 months, and 14 days, set a new record for longevity in 1997. The woman had a clear head and a steady memory right up until the very end, but her body eventually gave out. We’ll describe Jeanne Calman’s personality today and explain why many people believe she was a common phony.
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Jeanne Kalman’s Story
Jeanne was born to an aristocratic family on February 21, 1875, in the small French commune of Arles. She had a part-time job in her father’s store as a young child, where she occasionally ran upon Van Gogh. She described him as being filthy, offensive, and vulgar. Actually, Jeanne was eight years old when Thomas Edison created the light bulb. And the Parisian Eiffel Tower was finished when she reached 12 years old.
At the age of 21, Kalman wed a guy named Fernand Nicolas, through whom she had one child, Yvonne. Although she would give Jeanne a number of grandkids, the woman was destined to live longer than anyone in her family. She lost the last of her family in 1963, leaving her all by herself.
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World renown
Quietly and by herself, Jeanne Kalman celebrated her 100th birthday. The elderly woman had been invited to the festivities, but the former mayor of Arles recalled that she had declined. Soon he was able to convince her to visit City Hall, if only to receive a gift. He waited for her for a while before realizing that the grandma, who was 100 years old, had been waiting patiently the entire time. Just none had anticipated that she would appear much younger.
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However, Jeanne didn’t achieve true popularity until she was 110 years old. She nearly burned down her own home before being admitted to a nursing facility, where journalists discovered an intriguing story about her. Jeanne had never conducted an interview before, but she was content to discuss her life at the moment because she appeared bored.
Jeanne Kalman outlived all of her rivals and set the record for longevity. At 122 years old, she died in 1997. She was known as the Maid of Arleans by the locals, and the mayor of the city claimed that she served as the memory of the entire city as well as a grandmother to all French people.
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Jeanne Kalman and the Miserable Attorney
A failed attorney named Raffrey is the subject of one of Jeanne’s most well-known tales. The woman made the decision to enter into a contract with his neighbor when she was 90 years old. According to the terms of the contract, he was required to give the elderly woman a specific sum of money in exchange for the right to inherit her home. The man consented because he believed that by making these payments over ten years, he would actually pay for the house.
The 90-year-old woman’s life was expected to end soon, according to Raffrey. And he ended up giving her a free 30-year loan! The contract also included a provision regarding what would happen if the man passed away before expected because Kalman was a wise woman. In the end, Jeanne continued to support the widow of the attorney.
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A fake or a record-breaker?
Even now, more than 20 years after Jeanne Kalman passed away, many people don’t believe that she truly lived a long life. The most widely accepted theory contends that Jeanne Kalman was absent in 1934 and her daughter Yvonne filled her stead. Allegedly, Jeanne passed away from pneumonia, but the heirs chose to game the system in order to avoid paying the absurd inheritance tax.
This idea does have one significant drawback, though. Because of the Calman family’s considerable influence in Arles, locals were able to tell Jeanne apart from her daughter. Was the entire community complicit in such a bold lie? Unlikely. Despite the fact that the person who handled Yvonne’s body supposedly testified, She claimed that the deceased was her mother. The only way to find out is to exhume the body, but the French government is unwilling to do this. Jeanne Kalman has after all developed into a national treasure.
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Jeanne Kalman rose to fame as a sportswoman who played competitively until she was 100 years old, consumed one kilogram of chocolate every week, and enjoyed smoking and drinking alcohol. In other words, she did not lead a particularly healthy life. Some claim that Jeanne Kalman’s spirit and never-ending stream of positive energy are responsible for her long life.
