GREAT FALLS, Mont. (AP) — Walter Breuning, who was the world’s oldest man when he died earlier this month at the age of 114, had a second wife that few people knew about.
Breuning was known to say that “second marriages never work.” He also told several news organizations that he never remarried after the death of his wife, Agnes, in 1957.
The Great Falls Tribune reports Breuning married Margaret Vanest on Oct. 5, 1958 in Great Falls. Shirley Murphy of Great Falls told the Tribune that her aunt, Margaret Breuning, was the “sweetest person in the whole world.”
Joanne Breuning, who is married to one of Walter’s nephews, said she learned about Walter’s second wife through genealogy studies. She says Margaret Breuning’s 1975 death certificate lists her as married, but separated.
