World’s Oldest Facebook User Laid To Rest (She Passed Away At Age 114)

When Anna Stoehr was born, William McKinley was the president of the United States, and California had fewer residents than Iowa. She was born before Australia was a country, and before Orville and Wilbur Wright went airborne on the first airplane flight. On December 21, 2014 she passed away at the age of 114, at the Green Prairie Place nursing home in Plainview, Minnesota.

anna_stoehr
Photo credit: Richard Tsong-Taatarii/Minneapolis Star Tribune via AP

On Saturday December 27, she was laid to rest in a cemetery adjacent to Immanuel Lutheran Church in Potsdam, Minnesota. At the time of her passing, Stoehr was believed to be the oldest Facebook user in the world. She had to lie about her age to register for her account, because Facebook did not allow for her actual age of 113 (at the time) to be entered.

Her claim to being the world’s oldest Facebook user isn’t unchallenged. Massachusetts centenarian Bernice Madigan, 115, has a public figure page on Facebook. However, Stoehr had both a public figure page and a personal page when she passed. She had 31 Facebook friends. Her daughter-in-law has turned down thousands of friend requests from strangers since Anna’s passing.

Facebook executives sent her 114 flowers on her 114th birthday in October. Mark Zuckerburg also placed a personal call to her, but Anna was too busy to take the call. Stoehr was still gardening and living at home in Potsdam, Minnesota at age 112. She moved into the nursing home just two years ago.

The average life expectancy for an American born in 1900 was 47 years. Stoehr exceeded that by 67 years. Even her gravestone has to be re-engraved, because the “19..” was carved in many years ago, in anticipation of her presumed 20th century death. But she lived well into the 21st century. On Saturday, the church bells rang 114 times in Potsdam, Minnesota to commemorate her passing. She was the oldest Minnesotan and the seventh oldest person in the United States at the time of her death.

Keith Brekhus


keith bio pic

Keith Brekhus is a longtime political activist who currently resides in Red Lodge, Montana. He has a Master’s Degree in Sociology from the University of Missouri-Columbia. He was a Green Party candidate for Congress in 2002. His most recent political job was working as a Field Organizer in Arizona’s White Mountains, in support of Democratic Congresswoman Ann Kirkpatrick’s successful 2014 re-election campaign.

Let us know your thoughts at the Liberal America Facebook page. Sign up for our free daily newsletter to receive more great stories like this one.

Keith Brekhus is a progressive sociologist who resides in Red Lodge, Montana. He is co-host for the Liberal Fix radio show. Keith is a former Green Party candidate for US Congress (2002 in Missouri's 9th District). He can be followed on Twitter @keithbrekhus.