Eunice Sanborn

Eunice Allen Sanborn (née Lyons; July 20, 1896 – January 31, 2011) was an American supercentenarian who was thought to be the oldest verified living person in the world at the time of her death at age 114 years, 195 days.

Sanborn became the recognized titleholder upon the death of Eugénie Blanchard on November 4, 2010. Subsequently, Guinness World Records recognized the claim of Maria Gomes Valentim, who was born July 9, 1896, but her claim was not verified until May 2011. She was the oldest living person in the United States since the death of 114-year-old Neva Morris on April 6, 2010.

Sanborn was born Eunice Allen Lyons in Lake Charles, Louisiana, to Augustus and Varina Lyons. Her parents were of German and Irish heritage. Eunice Lyons first married in November 1913. Her first husband, Joe Orchin and the father of her daughter, was killed in an accident. In 1937, along with her second husband, Wesley Garrett, she moved to Texas, where she was part-founder of Love's Lookout. The two were the first to build a concrete bottom pool in Cherokee County at that time. Her daughter Dorothy, who died in 2005 aged 90, along with her second husband, managed to keep the business going for a long period of time. After his death, Eunice married Grant Sanborn, her third and last husband. He died in 1979. Sanborn lived in Jacksonville, Texas, until her death on January 31, 2011.

Sanborn's family claimed that the Census Bureau incorrectly recorded her birth year, and that she was born on July 20, 1895, which, if true, would have made her 7009364597200000000♠115 years, 195 days at the time of her death.