# Happy Birthday, Harold Fairweather!

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-birthday-harold-fairweather/784528>\
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\
**Created:** [April 15, 2017, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-birthday-harold-fairweather/784528 "2017-04-15T21:49:17Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Mallard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b9bd4f/32.png) [@Mallard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mallard)\
**Post date:** [April 15, 2017, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-birthday-harold-fairweather/784528/1 "2017-04-15T21:49:17Z")

</div>

Harold Fairweather of Jamaica celebrates his 97th birthday today. 😃 A grand old age for sure, but not record setting in its own right. However, Fairweather does have a longevity record. He’s the “oldest living child”. Also, he’s likely the oldest person ever to have a living parent! That’s right. Harold’s mother is still living! Harold’s mother, Violet Brown, is the world’s second oldest living person and the last surviving subject of Queen Victoria. She herself turned 117 on March 10, 2017.

> **[Violet Brown](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Violet_Brown)**
>
> Violet Brown (née Mosse; 10 March 1900 – 15 September 2017) was a Jamaican supercentenarian who was the oldest verified living person in the world for five months, following the death of Emma Morano on 15 April 2017 until her own death at the age of 117 years, 189 days on 15 September 2017. She was, along with Nabi Tajima of Japan, one of the last two living people known to have been born in the nineteenth century.
> Brown was born as Violet Mosse on 10 March 1900, and was one of four children ...

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Mallard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b9bd4f/32.png) [@Mallard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mallard)\
**Post date:** [April 15, 2017, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-birthday-harold-fairweather/784528/2 "2017-04-15T22:13:10Z")

</div>

And I see that as of today, Violet Brown is actually now the world’s OLDEST person.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\
**Post date:** [April 15, 2017, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-birthday-harold-fairweather/784528/3 "2017-04-15T22:26:06Z")

</div>

That’s some trick you managed there! Killed off some poor old Italian simply by posting to The Dope!

Seriously, I was curious who held the record now, so thanks.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Mallard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b9bd4f/32.png) [@Mallard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mallard)\
**Post date:** [April 23, 2017, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-birthday-harold-fairweather/784528/4 "2017-04-23T17:59:52Z")

</div>

And sadly, Harold died on April 19/17, 4 days after his 97th birthday. At the time of his death, he was survived by his mom, Violet Brown, the world’s oldest living person at age 117.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Two\_Many\_Cats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8dc957/32.png) [@Two\_Many\_Cats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Two_Many_Cats)\
**Post date:** [April 23, 2017, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-birthday-harold-fairweather/784528/5 "2017-04-23T18:06:24Z")

</div>

This is a crass question but, does it hurt just as bad to lose your 97 year old child, as it does at a younger age? Probably yes, but what more could you ask of life?