Dina Manfredini, world's oldest person, dies

(CNN) -- The Des Moines, Iowa, woman named the world's oldest living person this month has died, according to her family.

Dina Manfredini died overnight at the retirement center where she lived after suffering a fever, her granddaughter Lori Logli said Monday.

She was 115 and apparently died in her sleep, Logli said.

Guinness World Records identified Manfredini as the world's oldest person on December 5, a day after the death of 116-year-old Besse Cooper of Georgia.

Manfredini was born in Pievepelago, Italy, on April 4, 1897, and moved to Des Moines in 1920 with her husband, according to her Guinness biography.

She was an avid gardener who, after staying home to raise children and keep house, took up a job at the age of 90 cleaning houses, according to Guinness.

She lived on her own until she was 110, when she moved to a nursing home, Guinness said.

Guinness quoted Manfredini as saying that her long life was the result of her commitment to "hard work and everything in moderation."

CNN's Tom Faust contributed to this report.
 
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