Worcester, MA – Oldest Jewish American, Goldie Michelson, Dies At Home At Age 113

Worcester, MA – The oldest American person has died at her Massachusetts home at age 113. Goldie Michelson was a month short of her 114th birthday.

Los Angeles-based Gerontology Research Group senior consultant Robert Young says Michelson died Friday. He says she’d been “very frail and confined to bed” and hadn’t been seen in public for a long time.

Michelson was born to Jewish parents in Elizabethgrad, Russia, in 1902 and moved to the United States when she was a child. She lived in Worcester (WUS’-tur), 50 miles west of Boston.

The Callahan Fay & Caswell Funeral Home says Michelson graduated from Brown University. It says she had a lifelong interest in theater and even installed stage lights in her basement so children could perform there.

Mrs. Michelson spent much of her life volunteering, often working with local Jewish organizations and helping to resettle Jewish immigrants, Melton said.

Young says the new oldest American is New Jersey resident Adele Dunlap, who’s also 113.

Chabad Shaliach of Central Massachusetts, Rabbi Mendel Fogelman knew Mrs. Michelson told VIN News, that he met Mrs. Michelson the first time in her living room at the age of 108, and was amazed at her clarity and sharpness.

“We began delivering fresh challah on Fridays to the Michelson’s home. A couple of years ago I missed a few Friday’s, and I received a phone call from one of the caretakers inquiring on behalf of Goldie, ‘Where is the challah?’”

“At the funeral I was happy to hear from the family that our visits from Chabad meant so much to Goldie.”

“It was a privilege to be welcomed into the home of the wise and regal Mrs. Michelson, Rabbi Fogelman said”.