Woman Gets Birth Certificate at 117, Immediately Dies

A 117-year-old woman in Mexico City finally received her birth certificate, and died a few hours later. The AP reports Trinidad Alvarez Lira had waited years for proof that she had been born in 1898. She hadn't received all the government old-age benefits she was entitled to because she had no proof of her age. Mexico City's Department of Social Development said Thursday they had finally granted her birth certificate earlier this week, but she died of a heart attack on Wednesday.

Apparently Alvarez Lira didn't have time to cash a single check. If Alvaraez Lira was indeed born in 1898, she would have been the world's oldest person, and one of only two people alive who were born in that century. (More birth certificate stories.)