Germaine Haye

Who was Germaine Haye?

Germaine Haye née Germain was a supercentenarian and France's oldest living person for about a year, following the death of 115-year-old Marie Brémont on June 6, 2001 until her own death at age 113 years 190 days. At the time of her death, she ranked as one of the 100 oldest persons of all time, a distinction she held until mid-March 2008.

Haye lived in the town of Mortagne-au-Perche in Orne, Normandy, western France, since she was 19 years old. She worked as a babysitter and teacher until her three daughters grew up and left home. She then devoted herself to literature, publishing poems under the pseudonym Anne Moranget.

Haye was in good health, and good humor, for most of her life. At the time of her death, she had six grandchildren, eleven great-grandchildren and two great-great grandchildren, and recognized them all. In 2000, following a femoral fracture, she became a full-time wheelchair user, and went to live in the Mortagne-au-Perche retirement home for the last two years of her life. She died in her sleep.