What is Besse Cooper?
{{Infobox person |name = Besse Cooper |image = |image_size = |caption = Cooper in August 2012 |birth_name = Besse Berry Brown |birth_date = August 26, 1896 |birth_place = {{nowrap|[[Sullivan County, Tennessee]]}} |death_date = December 4, 2012<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20160304210013/http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/headlines/2012/12/besse-cooper-worlds-oldest-person-dies-at-116/ Besse Cooper, world's oldest person, dies at 116]</ref><br>(aged 116 years, 100 days) |death_place = {{nowrap|[[Monroe, Georgia]]}} |occupation = teacher |known_for = Oldest living person June 21, 2011 – December 4, 2012<ref name=GRG /> |title = |education = East Tennessee State Normal School |nationality = American |parents = Richard Brown and Angeline Berry |spouse = Luther Harris Cooper<br>(1895–1963)<br>(m. 1924–w. 1963) |children = |relatives = 4 children, 11 grandchildren, 13 great-grandchildren, 2 great-great-grandchildren}} '''Besse Berry Cooper''' (August 26, 1896 – December 4, 2012) was an [[Americans|American]] woman who was, the oldest living person in the United States since Eunice Sanborn's death on January 31, 2011 and also believed to be the world's oldest living person.<ref name=GRG /> However, [[Brazil]]ian woman [[Maria Gomes Valentim]] was on May 18, 2011 confirmed to be older, which made her the oldest living person from Frenchwoman [[Eugénie Blanchard]]'s death on November 4, 2010 and Cooper the oldest living person from her death on June 21, 2011, just 18 days before her 115th birthday.<ref name=GRG /> == Personal life == Besse Cooper was born as Besse Berry Brown in Sullivan County in [[Tennessee]] on August 26, 1896. She was the third of eight children of Richard Brown and Angeline Berry. She graduated from East Tennessee State Normal School (now [[East Tennessee State University]]) in 1916. While a college student, she joined the so-called first wave of feminism in the United States, becoming a suffragette, joining the struggle for women's right to vote. The de