Statia Kealy

Anastasia "Statia" Kealy (5 July 1903 – 23 September 2011) was an Irish centenarian who was the oldest known living person in Ireland since the death of Olivia Breen on 18 September 2011 until her own death five days later.

Biography
Kealy was born on 5 July 1903 to Thomas and Elizabeth (Lambert) Kealy in the village of Ballinphrase. She was the ninth of thirteen children, and six of her siblings did not survive childhood. She remembers her mother taking her on a two-mile walk to school everyday, where she enjoyed cooking and was the "best in the class to bake a cake". She left school at age 14 and soon got her ears pierced. In 1923, she began working as a seamstress. Kealy never married nor had any children.

After the death of both her parents in the 1950s, Kealy lived on her own in Ballinphrase. She moved into her younger sister Lizzie's home at the age of 90 and lived there for the rest of her life. After Olivia Breen died on 18 September 2011, Kealy became the oldest living Irish person. She died less than a week after gaining the title, ang it was passed onto Mary Kate Byrne.