The 12 Oldest Residents in Minnesota History

There must be something in the water in the Land of Ten Thousand Lakes. In terms of life expectancy, the state of Minnesota fares far nearly every other state, with an average lifespan of 79.1 years per individual in the North Star State.

That being said, throughout the state's history, some Minnesotans have lived so long that it almost defies conventional belief. In fact, the oldest Minnesotan of all was born shortly after the first automobile was made and passed away shortly after the first smartphone was.

Just this past year, we lost Lillian Moran, a remarkable woman from Moorhead, who passed away in April at the age of 113. Unbelievably, that's not quite the oldest age a Minnesotan has reached.

Here's a look a the eleven oldest Minnesotans of all time.

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According to the Gerontology Wiki Website, these are the twelve oldest Minnesotans who ever lived:

1. Walter Breuning - 114 Years 205 Days (Sep. 1896 - Apr. 2011)
2. Erna Zahn - 114 Years 117 Days (Apr. 1908 - Aug. 2022)
3. Catherine Hagel - 114 Years 8 Days (Nov. 1894 - Dec. 2008)
4. Maude Harris - 113 Years 261 Days (Aug. 1907 - May 2021)
5. Delvina Dahlheimer - 113 Years 72 Days (Dec. 1888 - Mar. 2002)
6. Cora Hansen - 113 Years 24 Days (Mar. 1899 - Apr. 2012)
7. Lillian Moran - 113 Years 15 Days (Mar. 1911 - Apr. 2024)
8. Bertha Flathers - 112 Years 236 Days (Mar. 1885 - Nov. 1997)
9. Lena Dick - 112 Years 206 Days (Aug. 1905 - Feb. 2018)
10. Elizabeth Fisher - 112 Years 201 Days (Jan. 1884 - Aug. 1996)
11. (Tie) Ruth Anderson - 112 Years 149 Days (Jul. 1899 - Dec. 2011)
12. (Tie) Evelyn Kleine - 112 Years 149 Days (Jul. 1907 - Dec. 2019)

There are a couple of very interesting facts pertaining to this list. First off, nearly every single person in the top ten is a female, except for one. Secondly, all twelve passed away in the past thirty years, providing evidence that humans are living longer than in years past.

So, who was Minnesota's oldest person on record? Here's a little info on Walter Breuning from Gerontology:

Walter Breuning (21 September 1896 – 14 April 2011) was a validated American supercentenarian who was the world's oldest living man following the death of Henry Allingham on 18 July 2009, until his own death nearly two years later. He was also the third-oldest validated living person in the world overall, behind Maria Gomes Valentim and Besse Cooper. As of February 2023, Breuning has been the fourth-oldest validated man ever, (after Jiroemon Kimura, Christian Mortensen, and Emiliano Mercado del Toro).

-Gerontology Website

To see the full list of the top 10 oldest people to ever live in each state, check out the article from Gerontology Fandom Website.

Story Source: Gerontology Fandom Website, Fox 9 Website, Gerontology Research Group Website