(CNN) -- Mississippi Winn didn't get caught up in the amazing statistics that accompanied someone her age.
Only 1 in 5 million people in the industrialized world live to be 110. About 60 people that age live in the United States, with another 300 or so scattered around the globe. Nine of 10 are women.
Winn was believed to be the oldest living African-American when she died Friday afternoon in Shreveport, Louisiana, at 113.
Investigator Milton Carroll of the Caddo Parish Coroner's Office said he was not permitted to disclose a cause of death, but a relative said Winn -- who was nicknamed "Sweetie" -- had been in declining health since last autumn.
Robert Young, a senior claims researcher with the Gerontology Research Group and a senior consultant for Guinness World Records, visited Winn at Magnolia Manor Nursing Home in July 2010.
"She looked to be in very good shape," he said Saturday. "It was a surprise she went downhill so fast".
Young believes Winn's parents were born into slavery. Her father was born in 1844 and her mother in 1860.
But Winn "never discussed it," said her great-niece Mary C. Hollins of Shreveport. "She would say, 'I don't know about that'".
Winn, who did not marry and lived independently until 103, appears to have lived a life that made her especially well-qualified for the elite club of supercentenarians -- those who live to be 110 or older. CNN
