Oldest Czech citizen dies aged 107

A Greek-born woman who fled her homeland for Czechoslovakia in 1948 due to civil war is now the oldest Czech citizen, also aged 107. According to press reports, Marie Tresnakova died last Friday at the age of 107 in a retirement home in the northern Bohemian town of Jirkov and now the oldest citizen in the Czech Republic is a Greek-born woman whose family sought refuge in the former Czechoslovakia during Greece's civil war. “On the day of her death, she was chatting in the hallway with the nurses; after dinner, she went to lie down and didn’t wake up,” Jirkov town hall spokesman Lubos Mizun told the Czech News Agency (CTK). Třesnakova, who never had children, attributed her longevity to long walks — and the occasional sip of Becherovka, a Czech herbal bitter of 76 proof that is usually served cold and vaunted as a digestif. 

Tresnakova, a former shop assistant, who had been living in the seniors’ home since 1994, became the oldest Czech citizen this February following the death of Frantiska Koznarova from Velka Bítes in the central Vysocina region — who coincidentally also lived to see her 107birthday. Koznarova kept goats in her twilight years and, according to some, goat’s milk and cheese contributed to her longevity.

The current holder of the title of oldest Czech citizen, Evangelie Carasova, was born in Greece in February 1904 and has for decades lived in Divci Hrad, northern Moravia. Carasova - who settled here at the age of 44 but never learned to speak Czech although she understands it reasonably well and is an avid follower of the local offering of TV soap operas - says the secret of her long life lies in living in tranquility and modesty, while consuming plenty of dairy products while avoiding alcohol.

Gardening was always among her great interests, her eldest daughter, Polyexenie told a local newspaper on the occasion of her mother’s 107birthday.

Source: www.ceskapozice.cz