City history
Jeralean Talley
1899–2015 · supercentenarian
Georgia-born Inkster resident who at 116 was the world's oldest verified living person in 2015, after 80 years in the Detroit suburb.
- Born
Montrose, Georgia- Died
Inkster, Michigan
aged 116- Birth name
- Jeralean Kurtz
- Also known as
- Mother Talley
- Detroit years
- 1935–2015
- Field
- City history
01 / The Detroit story
The Detroit story
Jeralean Kurtz was born on May 23, 1899, in Montrose, Georgia. In 1935 she and her husband moved north and settled in Inkster, a western Wayne County suburb of Detroit with a long-established African American community, and she lived there for the remaining 80 years of her life. She was a pillar of local church life: members of New Jerusalem Missionary Baptist Church called her Mother Talley, and in 2013 the congregation named its driveway after her. She stayed active well into old age, bowling past the age of 100 and going on regular fishing trips. After the death of Gertrude Weaver on April 6, 2015, she was recognized as the oldest living person in the world, and she received birthday letters from President Barack Obama. She died peacefully at her Inkster home on June 17, 2015, aged 116 years and 25 days.
Highlights
- World's oldest verified living person, April 6 – June 17, 2015
- Lived in Inkster for 80 years, from 1935 until her death
- Received letters from President Obama on her 114th and 116th birthdays
- Known as Mother Talley at New Jerusalem Missionary Baptist Church
02 / Their Detroit places
Their Detroit places 1
Where they lived, worked, performed and liked to hang out. Closed and demolished places stay here too, because they are part of the city's history.
Related place · 2000s–2015
New Jerusalem Missionary Baptist Church
Her home congregation, where members called her Mother Talley; the church named its driveway after her in 2013 and held a service for her 115th birthday in 2014.