Nyleptha Roberts

Nyleptha Matilda Bryant Shell Roberts (March 12, 1898 - May 5, 2010) was the oldest living person in Tennessee at the time of her death. She was the 20th oldest living person in the world, and 9th oldest living person in the US.

Youth
Nyleptha Bryant was born in White County, Tennessee in 1898. She was the oldest daughter of John Douglas Bryant, Sr. (1871–1932) and Molly Victoria Whitaker (1879–1957), and was their second child. They had 12 in all, and lived in Bon Air, Tennessee.

Nyleptha, who was named after the good queen in Henry Rider Haggard's adventure novels, loved to tell jokes and ice skate during her early years. She attended school in a small, country school house, and remembers seeing her first automobile in 1907, when she was 9 years old. At the age of 10, her mother taught her to sew, and she would make patterns and sew many of her own clothes for many years. In 1912, her father bought her an organ for $79, and she would learn to play by ear.