Elizabeth Culbertson

Elizabeth Culbertson (née Naab; 2 April 1905 – 3 April 2015) is an American supercentenarian whose age is currently unvalidated by the Gerontology Research Group (GRG).

Biography
Elizabeth Culbertson was born Elizabeth Naab in Park, Kansas, United States, on 2 April 1905. She was the fifth of 11 children born to German-born Russian immigrants Joseph and Katherine (née Gette) Naab. After finishing fourth grade, she was told by her Catholic school teacher and her local priest, Father John Hackenbroich, that she didn’t need to carry on to do fifth grade, instead telling her to help her mother at home. As a child, she was fluent in German.

In her early 20s, Culbertson was working as a nanny when her friend (who was a waitress) introduced her to George Andrew Culbertson, an electrical engineering student from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The couple were married on 17 August 1931 in Kinsley, Kansas, by Father John Hackenbroich.

The Culbertsons moved to Pittsburgh where they built their first home, calling it The Dollhouse. George would later help to engineer Disneyland’s Pirates of the Caribbean attraction, as well as working on the canal system in Mexico City. The couple had no biological children, but adopted two: Paul and Mary Ann. Paul would later have a son of his own named John.

After George died on 18 July 1980, Elizabeth retired to California. Her grandson John claimed that her secret to a long life was eating home-cooked meals. Until her 90s, she had never eaten pizza, spaghetti, or Chinese food. As a centenarian, she avoided fast food and mostly drank water. She liked to read books instead of having the television and the radio on. Culbertson fell and sprained her hip aged 108, which resulted in her being cared for at home.

Elizabeth Culbertson died in Cathedral City, California, United States, on 3 April 2015, one day after her 110th birthday.