Bernice Madigan
# Bernice Madigan

Bernice Madigan (nee Emerson July 24, 1899 – January 3, 2015) was an American supercentenarian who was the oldest living resident of Massachusetts, the fourth-oldest living person in the United States, and the world's fifth-oldest living person before her death. She is one of 100 centenarians in The Archon Genomics XPRIZE.

## Biography

Bernice Emerson was born on July 24, 1899 in West Springfield, Massachusetts, and moved to Cheshire when she was six. In 1918, after graduating from Adams High School, she responded to the government's drives to recruit women into employment during WWI, and moved to Washington, DC. After the war, she worked as a secretary for the Department of the Treasury and the Veterans Administration. She married Paul Madigan (d. 1976) in 1925; they lived in the Washington, DC area and then in Silver Spring, Maryland. She retired in 1942, after which she volunteered with the church and at nursing homes, playing piano for residents. She returned to live with family in Massachusetts in 2007. She participated in Boston University School of Medicine's New England Centenarian Study, and was interviewed and filmed by the Center for Aging at the University of Chicago and the ABC World News. She joined social media, with profiles on Facebook and Twitter.

Madigan died in her sleep at the age of 115 years, 163 days at 2 a.m. on January 3, 2015.

