A Sox fan for life.

Red Sox Nation lost its oldest citizen last week when 112-year-old Kathryn Gemme passed away at a nursing home in Middleboro, Massachusetts. Mrs. Gemme, who two years ago won recognition as the oldest living Red Sox fan, was an eight-year-old girl living in the western Massachusetts city of Chicopee when Boston won the very first World Series in 1903. Gemme attended her first Sox game at Fenway in 1912 - not long after the park opened - and her last in May 2004. The 2004 World Series win that ended the Curse of the Bambino and brought joy to Red Sox fans everywhere was especially sweet for Kate Gemme, both because she was one of the few fans old enough to remember when Babe Ruth actually played for the Sox and because she had a chance to see the Sox' World Series trophy close up when team reps brought it to her 111th anniversary celebration. The doyenne of Red Sox fans, Mrs. Gemme was also a longtime resident of my own Southeastern Massachusetts - the towns of Marion and Middleborough, where she spent her final years, both border on my hometown of Rochester. To learn more about this extraordinary woman, check out the obituaries published today in the Boston Globe and in the New Bedford Standard-Times. Requiescat in Pace. AMDG.