A 108-year-old woman thought to be Cowlitz County's oldest resident has died.

The Daily News (http://bit.ly/POSU8x) reports that retired teacher Elsa Nordin was born on July 20, 1904 in North Dakota. She was the oldest of 10 children. By the time she was 23, she had to take care of all her siblings because both her parents died.

Her nephew, 69-year-old Larry Blake, says she outlived all her siblings.

The Washington State Department of Health does not have current statistics about the state's oldest citizens. However, Nordin was certainly among Washington's oldest people. In 2010, the most recent year for which statistics were available, the state's oldest resident was 109.

Nordin never married, but always remained close to her family. She earned a master's degree in education from the University of Washington in 1956. She retired in 1970.