According to Good Morning America, Francis’ granddaughter and caretaker, Ethel Harrison, shared that she was surrounded by loved ones when she passed away on Oct. 22.

“She loved the Lord. Her faith was extremely strong,” Harrison said. “She was always, you know, jolly, you know, ‘How you doing? You’re doing okay?’ That was just her personality.”

She continued, “And she would always say, treat people like you want to be treated. And that was her motto.”

LongeviQuest, a database that tracks the oldest living people globally, confirmed that Francis was indeed the oldest living person in the U.S. and the third-oldest worldwide.

Francis achieved “supercentenarian” status, a term for anyone who has surpassed 110 years of life, but age was just a number for her.

“I’m very, very young. Look at me, I’m like a little young chicken,” she told ABC 13 upon being recognized on her 114th birthday in 2023.

At the time, Francis attributed her long life to avoiding alcohol and smoking and opting for fresh foods.

“Whenever you went to her house, I don’t care what day of the week she was cooking,” Harrison said, per GMA. “So, I just think that had a lot to do with it, too. Just how she took care of her body and things like that.”

Francis’ 96-year-old daughter Dorothy Williams described her mother’s longevity as a “blessing.”

“She has been a wonderful mother and grandmother to all of us,” Williams told ABC 13. “She has been our backbone.”