California woman in line as world's oldest

LOS ANGELES, Jan. 3 (UPI) -- A perky 114-year-old Los Angeles woman is in line to be named the world's oldest woman, Guinness World Records says.

Gertrude Baines was born to former slaves in Georgia in 1894 and lived much of her life in Ohio, working as a house mother at a state college before divorcing and moving to Los Angeles, where she now lives in a nursing home, CNN reported Saturday. Her only child, a daughter, died at age 18 of typhoid fever, CNN said.

Baines, who voted for Barack Obama for president, said only God knows why she has lived so long. "Ask him. I took good care of myself, the way he wanted me to," Baines said.

The world's previous oldest woman was 115-year-old Maria de Jesus, who died this week in Portugal, Guinness World Records said, noting it must first complete a routine investigation before crowning the next world's oldest woman.