Lucie Randon died at 118, blind and tired of living

BIOGRAPHY SISTER ANDRE – The nun Sister André was the doyenne of the French, but also that of… humanity. She passed away on Tuesday January 17, 2023, at the age of 118. Portrait.

Sister André is dead. “She died at 2 a.m. [mardi 17 janvier 2023 ndlr.]. There is great sadness, but she wanted it, it was her desire to join her beloved brother. For her, it’s a liberation”, explained David Tavella, in charge of communication at the Sainte-Catherine-Labouré accommodation establishment for dependent elderly people in Toulon, where Sister André lived. who was born Lucie Randon became the dean of humanity in April 2022, after the death of the Japanese Kane Tanaka, according to the Guinness Book of Records.For several years, however, Sister André had lost part of her physical abilities, moving in a wheelchair in particular, she had also become blind.

Short biography of Sister André – Lucile Randon, known as Sister André, was born on February 11, 1904 in Alès. She grew up in a non-practicing Protestant family and became a governess at the age of 12. The young Lucile Randon worked for twenty years as ateacher and governess in wealthy families in Paris. At the same time, she received Catholic baptism and made her first communion. In 1944, she takes orders and chose the name Sister André in reference to her older brother, who was perplexed by his entry into religion. She dedicates her life to others and works in the hospital. At the age of 75, she retired, but continued to take care of her fellow human beings. After her 100th birthday, she gradually loses her sight and hearing, as well as her mobility. In January 2021, at the age of 117, she caught and then recovered from covid-19 in the nursing home where she resides. In recent years, she had successively become dean of the French, dean of Europe. And on April 9, 2022, she had become the dean of humanity at the age of 118 years old, after the death of the Japanese Kane Tanaka. Just behind Jeanne Calment, who died at 122, was the second oldest French woman ever. Although she was very old and weary, Sister André continued to welcome the media, and always delivered a message of peace to her visitors and admirers.

Youth of Lucile Randon, who became Sister André

Lucile Randon was born in 1904 in Alès with a twin sister. She grows up in a protestant family non-practicing. His father, Paul Randon, is a teacher at the upper primary school in the city. At the age of 18 months, she loses her twin sister, fell ill at her nurse’s house. It is strongly marked by the First World War who drives away his two older brothers, gone to the front. Young Lucile bursts with joy when her two brothers return alive at the end of the conflict. She describes that day as the most beautiful day of her life, although André, the eldest, is seriously injured. At the age of 12, she was sent to Marseille to be governess of three children to a doctor. Then at the age of 16, she was hired in Versailles as a teacher in the Peugeot family.

The teacher enters orders under the name of Sister André

In 1922, Lucile Randon joined another family in the Paris region where she was governess and teacher for nearly fifteen years. At the same time, she realizes her catechumenate in 1923 and embraced the Catholic faith. At the age of 40, she entered the house of the Daughters of Charity to fulfill her novitiate in Paris. She adopts the name of religion sister Andrew in honor of his older brother. After the Second World War, she joined the Vichy hospital where she helped and assisted children and the elderly. She stayed there for 28 years and then worked at La Baume-d’Hostun hospital where she did night duty. In 1979, Sister André retired at the age of 75. She joined the Marches nursing home in Savoie, where she lived for thirty years, pushing the wheelchairs of residents younger than her. Then in 2009, she joined the Sainte-Catherine-Labouré nursing home in Toulonat the age of 105.

Sister André, new dean of humanity

In 2017, when Honorine Rondello died, Sister André officially became the dean of the French people. Then, in 2019, she became the dean of Europe as well as the second oldest living person in the world, behind the Japanese Kane Tanaka. She was also the second French woman to have reached the ages of 117 and 118. She was also the only woman since Jeanne Calment to have outlived all of her compatriots born up to five years after her. Finally, on April 19, 2022, Sister André became the dean of humanity at the age of 118 following the death of Japanese Kane Tanaka.

An increasingly degraded state of health over the years

Very pious, Sister André prayed daily for peace, the poor and mutual aid in society. Since she had joined the Toulon nursing home, she had gradually lost her ability to move, to hear and had become blind. In 2021, she had caught and then recovered from the coronavirus. She confessed, without fear, to be tired of living, particularly in her condition, because she suffered physically and could no longer go about her business as in the past. But she was ironic in an interview for Free lunch : “The Good Lord does not want me.”