Hendrikje van Andel-Schipper
Hendrikje was the oldest living person in Europe at the time of her passing and to date, she is the oldest living verified Dutch person. She passed away peacefully in her sleep in 2005 from undetected stomach cancer. She died at age 115 years, 62 days. She was born in a small village called Kloosterveen, Netherlands and she was premature. Hence, she suffered health problems throughout most of her childhood.
She was homeschooled for her safety and ironically later on in life she became a teacher. She married Dick van Andel at age 35 after moving with her parents. However, she later cut ties with them because did not approve of him. She remained in good health until she battled breast cancer in 1990 and moved into a retirement home. She had become popular as she was the oldest person in the Netherlands, visits from the media, the Dutch royal family, and her favorite soccer club Ajax were a normal day for her.