Wednesday, August 13, 2008

American Sandy Allen, recognized as the tallest woman in the world, has died at age 53 at her nursing home in Shelbyville, Indiana. She was 7 ft 7¼ in (232 cm) in height.

Even though she was officially named as the worlds tallest woman by the Guinness Book of World Records several websites list Yao Defen as the tallest. Yao’s official height is disputed, however.

Allen’s height was brought on by a tumor in her pituitary gland that caused it to release growth hormone uncontrollably. She had surgery at age 22.

In 1978 she appeared in the film Fellini’s Casanova. She also appeared in a TV movie called Side Show and in a Canadian/American documentary film called Being Different. New Zealand band Split Enz wrote the song “Hello Sandy Allen” about her.

Because of physical limitation, she spent her last years in a retirement center. The center, coincidentially, is where Edna Parker lives. Parker has been recognized as the oldest living person in the world at age 115.

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This page is archived, and is no longer publicly editable.

Articles presented on Wikinews reflect the specific time at which they were written and published, and do not attempt to encompass events or knowledge which occur or become known after their publication.

Got a correction? Add the template {{editprotected}} to the talk page along with your corrections, and it will be brought to the attention of the administrators.

Please note that due to our archival policy, we will not alter or update the content of articles that are archived, but will only accept requests to make grammatical and formatting corrections.

Note that some listed sources or external links may no longer be available online due to age.