Gladys Stokes Luxford Powers (10 May 1899 – 15 August 2008) was thought to be, at age 109, the last

female Female ( symbol: ♀) is the sex of an organism that produces the large non-motile ova (egg cells), the type of gamete (sex cell) that fuses with the male gamete during sexual reproduction. A female has larger gametes than a male. Females ...

veteran of the First World War following the 27 March 2007 death of fellow 109-year-old Charlotte Winters from the US. However the subsequent discovery of fellow

Britons British people or Britons, also known colloquially as Brits, are the citizens of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, the British Overseas Territories, and the Crown dependencies.: British nationality law governs mod ...

Ivy Campany Ivy Lillian Campany (23 September 1901 – 19 December 2008) was, at the age of 107, the penultimate World War I female military veteran of any country. The last was Florence Green (1901–2012), who was not identified as a veteran of the confli ...

, who died on 19 December 2008, and

Florence Green Florence Beatrice Green (''née'' Patterson; 19 February 1901 – 4 February 2012) was an English woman who at the time of her death was thought to have been the last surviving veteran of the First World War from any country. She was a member of ...

has disproved this. Regardless, Powers was the last veteran living in

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

, following the death of Dwight Wilson on 9 May 2007, the day before Powers' 108th birthday. The last Canadian-born veteran, 109-year-old

John Babcock John Henry Foster Babcock (July 23, 1900 – February 18, 2010) was, at age 109, the last known surviving veteran of the Canadian military to have served in the First World War and, after the death of Harry Patch, was the conflict's oldes ...

, later moved to the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

where he lived until his death on 18 February 2010. Powers was born in

Lewisham Lewisham () is an area of southeast London, England, south of Charing Cross. It is the principal area of the London Borough of Lewisham, and was within the historic county of Kent until 1889. It is identified in the London Plan as one of ...

County of London The County of London was a county of England from 1889 to 1965, corresponding to the area known today as Inner London. It was created as part of the general introduction of elected county government in England, by way of the Local Government A ...

, the daughter of Frederick Charles Stokes. During her childhood she lived in both

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with a small portion on the Balkan Peninsula in ...

and Australia. In 1915, she volunteered as a barracks waitress for the WAAC despite the minimum age being 17. Later she transferred to the

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) an ...

; the WRAF. In 1920, she married Edward Luxford, a Canadian soldier, whom she had met while visiting her older brother, Cyril, in hospital, where the latter was recovering from

shell shock Shell shock is a term coined in World War I by the British psychologist Charles Samuel Myers to describe the type of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) many soldiers were afflicted with during the war (before PTSD was termed). It is a react ...

incurred during the war. The Luxfords moved to Calgary that year, and walked almost 1000 kilometres along the Canadian Pacific Railway tracks to

British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...

in 1925. They later divorced and Powers remarried and was widowed twice, before meeting and marrying Andrew Powers in 1973, whom she also outlived. She lived in Abbotsford from 1992 until her death in 2008.3 centuries, 4 husbands, 109 years
It is locally said that Cyril Street and Gladys Avenue in Abbotsford are named after the siblings.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Powers, Gladys 1899 births 2008 deaths People from Lewisham Royal Air Force personnel of World War I English centenarians Women's Royal Air Force airwomen Queen Mary's Army Auxiliary Corps soldiers Women centenarians Military personnel from London