Iowa woman believed to be oldest in US dies

An Iowa woman who was believed to be the oldest living person in the U.S. has died at the age of 115. Bessie Laurena Hendricks, of Lake City, died Tuesday at the Shady Oaks Care Center, according to Lampe & Powers Funeral Home in Lake City. Hendricks was listed last year by the Los Angeles-based Gerontology Research Group as the country's oldest living person until her death.

She was a teacher in a one-room schoolhouse there and the mother of five children, according to the Des Moines Register. She is survived by three of her children. A funeral service for Hendricks will be held at Lampe & Powers Funeral Home on Saturday.