MADURAI: Having lived a long and fruitful life, Madurai's senior most citizen, Arul Navam David, 105, breathed her last in the wee hours of Monday.
She lived a hale and hearty life without any ailments, except that she was on a liquid diet for the last 10 days.
She appeared in district collector office in May to renew her pension by producing life certificate, much to the surprise of treasury officials. They told her that she had attained the ripe age to claim double pension.
During last parliamentary elections in April 2014, Arul Navam gingerly came down to a polling booth being carried by her great grandson, David Franco.
As she approached the booth, she jumped down and went around franchising her vote. She promptly came out giving a warm smile to media persons and her relatives informed that she followed up all election developments promptly.
To her age, she had amazing vision to read Bible and newspapers and most of her teeth were intact till her death. She had no age-related ailments like diabetes, blood pressure or heart ailments.
"She lived a disease-free life and took care of her own needs. She was absolutely no trouble to family for her age," said Sampath Pandian, her relative.
Her life was full of tragedies, and she faced them with grit. Born in 1911, she worked as a midwife in Ramnathapuram and later at Madurai Government Rajaji Hospital, before retiring as midwifery superintendent in 1966.
She was widowed at the age of 26 with eight children and she did not have any professional training.
She studied midwifery after her husband's demise to support her children. She worked in Ramanathapuram district - most of the times in remote villages - helping out poor families.
She had also seen her children dying one by one due to age, the most painful part of her long life, said P David Manickam, her grandson.
Having faced all the struggles with exceptional courage, she celebrated her 105th birthday along with her neighbours in a gated community near Vilangudi on January 4, 2015.
On Monday morning, around 1.40am, she suffered wheezing trouble and passed away, her relatives informed.
"She lived her life full and passed away peacefully. She will be laid to rest after the requiem service at Christ Church, Karimedu", Manickam added.
She lived a hale and hearty life without any ailments, except that she was on a liquid diet for the last 10 days.
She appeared in district collector office in May to renew her pension by producing life certificate, much to the surprise of treasury officials. They told her that she had attained the ripe age to claim double pension.
During last parliamentary elections in April 2014, Arul Navam gingerly came down to a polling booth being carried by her great grandson, David Franco.
As she approached the booth, she jumped down and went around franchising her vote. She promptly came out giving a warm smile to media persons and her relatives informed that she followed up all election developments promptly.
To her age, she had amazing vision to read Bible and newspapers and most of her teeth were intact till her death. She had no age-related ailments like diabetes, blood pressure or heart ailments.
"She lived a disease-free life and took care of her own needs. She was absolutely no trouble to family for her age," said Sampath Pandian, her relative.
Her life was full of tragedies, and she faced them with grit. Born in 1911, she worked as a midwife in Ramnathapuram and later at Madurai Government Rajaji Hospital, before retiring as midwifery superintendent in 1966.
She was widowed at the age of 26 with eight children and she did not have any professional training.
She studied midwifery after her husband's demise to support her children. She worked in Ramanathapuram district - most of the times in remote villages - helping out poor families.
She had also seen her children dying one by one due to age, the most painful part of her long life, said P David Manickam, her grandson.
Having faced all the struggles with exceptional courage, she celebrated her 105th birthday along with her neighbours in a gated community near Vilangudi on January 4, 2015.
On Monday morning, around 1.40am, she suffered wheezing trouble and passed away, her relatives informed.
"She lived her life full and passed away peacefully. She will be laid to rest after the requiem service at Christ Church, Karimedu", Manickam added.
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