World's oldest woman celebrates 115th birthday

　　The world's oldest woman celebrated her 115th birthday at the Western Convalescent Hospital near downtown Los Angeles on Monday.

　　With music, cake and a letter from President Barack Obama, Gertrude Baines received a proclamation from the Guinness Book of World Records acknowledging her as the world's oldest person.

　　In the letter, Obama wished her a happy birthday. Baines has said she plans to vote for Obama again in 2012.

　　Born 1894 in Shellman, Georgia, Baines became the world's oldest living person when 115-year-old Portuguese woman Maria de Jesus died in January. Her father was the son of slaves, and Baines has outlived her entire family. Her only daughter died of typhoid fever when she was a toddler.

　　"Her only complaint to me, well there are two complaints, number one, she doesn't like the bacon. It's not crisp enough," her doctor, Charles Witt Jr., told local TV station KCAL9. "And the other thing is she fusses about her... arthritis of her knees. She told me that she owes her longevity to the Lord, that she never did drink, she never did smoke and she never did fool around."

　　Baines was featured on local television newscasts in November when she cast her ballot for Obama for president, saying she backed him "because he's for the colored." She said she never thought she would live to see a black man become president.

　　Baines, who worked as a maid in University of Ohio dormitories until her retirement, has lived at the Convalescent Hospital for more than 10 years.