SHELBYVILLE, Ind. -- The world's oldest-known person has died.

UCLA gerontology expert Dr. Stephen Coles says Edna Parker passed away Wednesday at a Shelbyville, Ind., nursing home.

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Parker was born April 20, 1893, making her 115 years and 120 days old.

Parker was recognized by Guinness World Records as the oldest person since last August, after the death of a Japanese woman four months her senior.

Coles maintains list of the world's oldest people. He says Parker was the 14th oldest validated supercentenarian in history.

Coles said Parker's great nephew, Jonathan Fateley of Manhattan, Kan., notified him of the death on Wednesday. She had been a widow since her husband, Earl, died of a heart attack in 1938.

Parker lived alone in their farmhouse until age 100, when she moved into her son Clifford's home.

Coles maintains list of world's oldest people and has performed six autopsies on supercentenarians, people who live to at least 110 years of age. Coles said Parker was the 14th oldest validated supercentenarian in history.

Parker lived at the Heritage House Convalescent Center, about 25 miles southeast of Indianapolis. She was born in Morgan County, growing up on a farm before becoming a teacher.

She taught in a two-room school in Smithland for several years until she wed her childhood sweetheart and next-door neighbor, Earl Parker, in 1911.

The same year, she graduated from Franklin College with a degree in education. But as was the tradition of that era, her teaching career ended with her marriage. She began the arduous life of a farm wife, preparing meals for as many as 12 men who worked on her husband's farm.

Parker had two sons, both of whom she outlived.

Parker's two sisters lived long lives as well. Georgia lived to be 99, while her sister Opal was 88 when she died.