On Thursday, 6 December 2018, the oldest known Dominican in the country died, as reported in Listin Diario. Jaime (Jaimito) Vicente was born in January 1901 in Hondo Valle, Elías Piña, and would have been 118 on 28 January 2019. He was a farmer, and enjoyed singing, especially bachatas, as reported in Diario Libre.
He lived to see two US interventions, the regimes of Ramón Cáceres and Horacio Vásquez, the dictatorship of Rafael Leonidas Trujillo Molina, and the long governments of Joaquín Balaguer and Leonel Fernandez.
According to statistics, only Jeanne Calment, from France, aged 122 and Sarah Knauss of the United States, at 119, are older than him. There are another seven citizens of Japan, United States, Canada, Jamaica and Italy who reached more than 117 years old.
Even though Hondo Valle is a poor area on the border with Haiti, there are many citizens there who work up to an advanced age with mentally agile.
Vicente leaves behind an extended family. He had 15 children all with his one-time late wife, Angela Encarnación (Lola) who died in 2005 at 78 years. He is survived by six daughters and one son. His eldest daughter is Celia, who is 90 years old. He had 47 grandchildren and 114 great grandchildren.
Read more in Spanish:
Listin Diario
Listin Diario
Diario Libre
11 December 2018
