She takes history in stride

On her first day as the oldest person on Earth, 114-year-old Gertrude Baines of Los Angeles, spent Saturday resting under the covers in her pajamas -- unfazed and most likely unaware of her new world status.

“She has a little cold,” said her social worker, Linda Bell, after making her morning rounds at Western Convalescent Hospital west of USC. “I don’t think anyone has told her the news, and she hasn’t mentioned it all day.”

Baines awoke to her usual breakfast gripe: her bacon wasn’t crispy enough. Her TV cast a glow inside her room as she rested.

Outside, the Internet was abuzz, announcing the news from Hawaii to Hong Kong. The death of 115-year-old Maria de Jesus in Portugal on Friday made Baines the oldest, according to the Gerontology Research Group, which validates claims of extreme old age.

By 10 a.m., the convalescent hospital staff had turned away nearly a dozen calls from reporters requesting interviews with Baines.

But workers proudly discussed their most distinguished resident.

“We are very happy she has lived this long,” Bell said. “She’s a very nice, sweet lady. And sometimes, just like you and me, she doesn’t want to be bothered.”

Although the milestone splashed her name across the globe, inside the senior home, fellow centenarians and soon-to-be centenarians weren’t always as quick to praise.

“They know she’s the oldest so there’s some jealousy there,” Bell said. “If someone gives her attention, they’ll ask, ‘Why are they doing that for?’ ”

Two months ago, Baines made national headlines as the oldest African American to cast a ballot in the U.S. election.

A video shows the daughter of former slaves sitting in her wheelchair wearing a red bonnet and a fuzzy scarf as she voted for Sen. Barack Obama for president.

“That’s the first one I know to be in there,” she told the Los Angeles Times of her preferred candidate. “Everybody’s glad for colored men to be in there some time.”

At the time, Baines was the third-oldest person in the world; Edna Parker of Indiana, who was 115, was in the top spot, followed by De Jesus. De Jesus, who had outlived three of her six children, died quietly after breakfast.

Four months shy of blowing out her next batch of birthday candles, Baines has outlived everyone in her family, including her daughter, who died of typhoid at 18.

She lived alone with the help of a caretaker until she turned 107.

When asked in April how she had made it so far, she said: “Ask the Lord. I depend on him.”

The native of Atlanta was born in 1894, when Grover Cleveland was president, and the U.S. flag had 44 stars.

Baines’ weak eyesight doesn’t make it easy to keep up with the images on television, but from time to time, she enjoys “The Price Is Right” and “The Jerry Springer Show.”

Today, Baines is expected to get up and attend church services in the hospital’s dining room.

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esmeralda.bermudez @latimes.com