[5][6][7][2] It was not until Knauss reached 111 years old that she took up residency at a nursing home in Allentown, Pennsylvania, due to her frailness and failing eyesight.

[4] At 117 years old, Knauss underwent a blood transfusion due to having low hemoglobin, and she continued to take heart medication for the rest of her life.

[2] When asked how she had survived to her great age, Knauss responded that one should “keep yourself busy, work hard, and not worry about how old you are.” She was a non-smoker and was never considered obese at any point in her life.

[4][8] An autopsy was performed on her body, but the results were never made public; however, she was not known to have been suffering from any illness at the time of her death.

Knauss remained the second oldest known validated person until Kane Tanaka outlived her by 10 days in April 2022.

Knauss became the United States national longevity record holder after surpassing the final age of Delphia Welford (1875–1992) on November 30, 1997.

Knauss remains the oldest documented person from the United States,[9] and is the third-oldest fully documented person ever, after French supercentenarian Jeanne Calment and Japanese supercentenarian Kane Tanaka, who lived 10 days longer than her.