Sylvia Jean Bairde (née Ryan, formerly Cross or Cowell; born 2 December 1899?) is an American woman who claims to be the oldest person in the world.
Biography[]
Early Life[]
Sylvia Jean Ryan Cowell Bairde claims to have been born in La Plata, Maryland, USA on 2 December 1899. She was born to business owners and had 7 siblings growing up, she was the youngest. She was married in 1914 to Abraham Lincoln Cross and had three children, all of whom died in their 90s and 100s. Bairde's father was born in 1819, her paternal grandfather was born in 1739 and her paternal-paternal great grandfather was born in 1659. Her paternal all the way great-great grandfather was born in 1579 and sailed on the mayflower from England the the United States in 1620 when he was 40.
Her first husband died in 1933 and Sylvia became a settled and retired widow for what she thought would be the rest of her life.
However, eight years later when Sylvia was 42 she married another man named John Adams Bairde and had two more children. Both of whom are still alive. After these two children had moved out in 1960, Bairde and her husband retired again. They downsized into a smaller house and later downsized again.
John Adams Bairde died in 1989 at the age of 85 from lung metastatic cellular breakdown and anemia. Bairde lived in their house for nineteen more years until she was 109 and began to have episodes of wandering around the neighborhood at night. She had a restless mind and restless legs and she would walk around the neighborhood and people's yards. Sometimes she would walk into people's houses if their door was unlocked and stand over them while they slept. She was arrested several times for this.
Bairde tried to live with her great-great granddaughter and her great-great-great grandchildren for about a year but she caused problems with the neighbors and was advised to move into a retirement community. Until her last child from her first marriage died in 2017 at the age of 102, there were 4 generations living in the same retirement home; Bairde, 117; her daughter, 102; her granddaughter, 89; and her great granddaughter, 75. All 4 of these women had been living in different places around the state and were having trouble taking care of themselves. Bairde's great-great granddaughter, Carolyn (then 60 and a great-grandmother herself) was instrumental in moving her mother, grandmother, great-grandmother and great-great grandmother to the same retirement community so she could take care of all of them together instead of rushing from one town to another.
Later Life[]
At the age of 109, Bairde moved into Treplott Retirement Community and lives in a 1400 sqft split level house with a large yard in the community. She drove until age 114 but her car was stolen out of her driveway and she never reported it or bought another. She said, "the good Lord has taken my car."
Sylvia Bairde has had a lot of cosmetic surgery done throughout her life. Her health is worse than she looks and she is only able to walk around her house and yard in the afternoon and evenings due to Multiple Sclerosis which she has suffered from for 60 years. She has had full time live in care since she was 122.
Despite her health, Bairde appears to be 50 years younger because of how well she takes care of her appearance. Though she has completely grey hair naturally, she has dyed her hair black with blonde highlights since she was in her 70s in order to appear that she has naturally black hair that she dyes blonde. Since the age of 108 however, she has let her highlights grow out and dusts her grey hair an ash black. Later on when she was 124, she got a boycut. Later that year she quit dying her hair completely and grew out all of the dyed hair in a matter of months.
Bairde has aged in appearance by 20 years in the past year and a half even though she looked younger up until then. She also became unable to walk in 2024 and home bound. She wanders around the yard at night unchecked, but she is asleep. Bairde talks to herself a lot and experiences paranoia. She says that her house is haunted. In under a year, she turned from a fully functioning and young looking adult into a wheelchair bound invalid.
As of 2024 Bairde had two living children (both from her second marriage), 10 grandchildren, 15 great grandchildren, 20 great-great grandchildren, 32 great-great-great grandchildren, 14 great-great-great-great grandchildren and 4 great-great-great-great-great grandchildren.
Gallery[]
