NEW ULM, Minn. – No, they didn’t put 113 candles on Erna Zahn’s birthday cake. She celebrated the occasion quietly at Oak Hills nursing home, where she moved at age 109 when she gave up her house. Any regrets, Erna? “I wish I had kept a diary.” According to the Supercentenarian Research and Database division at the Gerontology Research Group, which tracks such things, Erna Zahn is the oldest person in Minnesota. She also is in a select group of only 35 people on the planet verified be at least 113.
At Christmas. With a granddaughter at a New Ulm nursing home.