Bernice E. Madigan | Fifth-oldest person, 115

Bernice Emerson Madigan, 115, the fifth-oldest person in the world and Massachusetts' oldest resident, died at a Williamstown nursing center last weekend.

According to the Gerontology Research Group, she was the fifth-oldest person in the world.

Ms. Madigan had said her secrets to a long life included a positive attitude, no children, and a hot breakfast, a glass of wine, and a spoonful of honey every day.

Ms. Madigan was born in West Springfield, Mass., in 1899. After high school graduation, she got a job at the U.S. Treasury Department and moved to Silver Spring, Md., where she lived until moving back to western Massachusetts in 2007.

Her husband, Paul, died in 1976.

- AP