Person:Soledad Mexia (1)

Soledad Mexia: California's oldest resident was 114

Soledad Mexia, who had been California's oldest resident, died Friday in a Chula Vista hospice, only 17 days after celebrating her 114th birthday, according to Dr. Stephen Coles of the Gerontology Research Group at UCLA.

Mexia was born Aug. 13, 1899, in Mexico but moved to the United States when she was very young and became an American citizen, Coles said.

The daughter of a Sinaloan carpenter, Mexia was a homemaker most of her life.

The Gerontology Research Group is an organization of physicians, scientists and engineers who validate supercentenarians, people 110 or older.

The world's oldest person, Misao Okawa of Japan, is 115, Coles said.

-- Los Angeles Times staff and wire reports (news.obits@latimes.com)

Soledad Mexia (August 13, 1899 – August 30, 2013) was a Mexican-American supercentenarian who at the time of her death was the world's fifth-oldest living person and the oldest living resident of California. She is the oldest Mexican-born person ever.

Born Soledad Bonillas on Aug. 13, 1899, in the Mexican state of Sinaloa, she was the youngest of two daughters to Benigno and Refugio Bonillas. At 20, she married Juan Mexia, a carpenter who constructed sets for the theater and opera in Mazatlan. (Extracted from original article.)