Conversion therapists: We can talk the gay away

josephnicolosi.com Joseph Nicolosi of Encino, Calif. has been practicing sexual orientation change therapy for 25 years. By Isolde Raftery, NBC News They've been dismissed as quacks, homophobes and in denial, but therapists who counsel patients on shedding their gay feelings insist that their work is needed. "If a person wants to be gay, and thinks he is gay, then that's perfectly fine," said Joseph Nicolosi, who founded a so-called "reparative" therapy practice in Encino, Calif. "I want to be available for those who want to change." In recent months, Nicolosi and his colleagues have come under fire for their position that people can diminish gay feelings through therapy, a process referred to as "sexual orientation change effort" by the American Psychological Association. Last week, four men who underwent conversion therapy sued their New Jersey provider, saying they were shamed and falsely led to believe they could be "cured" of being gay.  In California, Governor Jerry Brown signed a law that bans the use of sexual orientation change effort on minors. The ban, supposed to take effect on Jan. 1, was put on hold by a judge Monday, but only for three California therapists who challenged the law. Psychiatrist Robert Spitzer, a leader in psychiatry in the 20th century, apologized in May for publishing an article saying that conversion therapy was possible for motivated patients. Exodus International, a nonprofit for ex-gay Christians, came out weeks later saying they don't recommend "therapies that make changing sexual orientation a main focus." But Nicolosi, who has been in practice for 25 years and who coined the term "reparative," stands firm: "We need to understand there's a lot of mystery about human sexuality. You can't say gay once, gay always."  Conversion therapy draws on Sigmund Freud's theory that all people are born bisexual and that some become gay because of their upbringing, which he wrote about in Three Essays on the Theory of Sexuality. Many therapists offered some form of sexual orientation change therapy until around 1973, when homosexuality was removed from the psychiatric guide to mental disorders, according to the American Psychological Association. In a 2009 resolution, the association stated that therapists who persist with such therapies appeared to be part of the broader "conservative political movements that have supported the stigmatization of homosexuality on political or religious grounds." Psychology can acknowledge different viewpoints, the resolution says, but such therapies contradict rigorous studies. "Belief in the hope of sexual orientation change followed by the failure of the treatment was identified as a significant cause of distress and negative self-image."    Related: Four men sue New Jersey organization over 'gay conversion therapy' David Pickup, a licensed therapist in Glendale, Calif. who trained with Nicolosi, went through sexual orientation change therapy in his early 30s. Pickup, 56, believes he was attracted to men because he was molested several times by a high school student when he was five. He describes himself as a "typically religious, conservative guy." Rich Pedroncelli / AP file David Pickup, a "reparative" therapist in California, urged state lawmakers to reject a bill banning the controversial form of psychotherapy for minors. "I had challenges with homosexual feelings but never identified being gay for me was innate or inborn," he said. "I never lived the gay lifestyle. I just had sexual experiences." Pickup is quick to differentiate himself from those who practice aversion therapy, which tries to eliminate a behavior or desire by associating it with pain. Those who were sued in New Jersey were accused of shaming patients and forcing them to strip off their clothes in group sessions.  "I can say this: I don't do oranges therapy, and I don't do naked therapy," Pickup said. (In the New Jersey lawsuit, one of the young men said oranges were used to represent testicles.) Rather, he said, his practice is focused on talk therapy and working through a client's issues.   Pickup is not married. "I'm still looking," he said. His friends are straight, for the most part, he said, although he remains close to a gay man from his past. He said they are like brothers, even though they disagree on matters of sexuality. Both Nicolosi and Pickup belong to NARTH -- National Association for Research and Therapy of Homosexuality -- which includes about 350 therapists, according to its vice president, David Pruden. Unlike Nicolosi and Pickup, Pruden said most of those therapists have just a few gay clients within a larger practice. "People get the idea that someone comes in and we say, 'How do you feel about that?' and then, 'We're going to fix that,'" Pruden said. "You really don't. What you really do is treat them like any other client that is distressed about anything, and you work on distress." Through talk therapy, he said, some clients say their same-sex attractions are diminished. Most of Nicolosi's clients are men from conservative, religious backgrounds, he said. About 40 percent are teens, and about half of them, sent by their parents, say they don't want to change or are confused. "We say, fine, you want to be gay, but are you curious in understanding why you're gay?" Nicolosi said. Nicolosi's theory is that men are attracted to other men because of how they were raised. He bases this notion on conversations he had early in his career with gay men. "As I listened to these men, I started to hear common themes of their childhood," Nicolosi said. "Overinvolved, intrusive mother, distanced, detached or hostile father, so that the boy did not bond with the father. That became the foundation of the understanding. I looked into the literature. I saw that there was an entire tradition of psychoanalytic understanding." So why not accept that his patients might be gay? Knowing the reason for their same-sex attraction is consoling to patients, Nicolosi said. "They're no longer weirdos or perverts or degenerates or whatever. Now they realize that their same-sex attraction is an attempt to repair a sense of not belonging to men." On his website, Nicolosi has transcribed some of these conversations. In many, the men describe wanting a "normal life." One man, married 31 years, told Nicolosi: "I wanted what most everybody wants — I wanted family, security. I wanted to grow old together with somebody that I was committed to. I wanted children, a house, a job, and a picket fence, all of those things — the American dream. And I couldn't have that with homosexuality." In some places, gay couples can enjoy much of what Opp desired: Same-sex marriage is legal in nine states, and same-sex couples can adopt children together in all U.S. states except Mississippi and Utah.  "Gay marriage doesn't cut it for this clientele," Nicolosi said. "They want a woman. They want a male-female relationship. They don't want to be living with a guy in a marriage. That's too radical for them." Some patients take years to feel less gay; others never do, he said. "Some can walk away and say they have no homosexual attraction, period," he said. "That's rather rare. A lot of them say, 'My homosexuality comes up rarely and not really strongly. It's something that I can dismiss.'" NARTH's Pruden said fewer patients are seeking to change their sexual orientation these days because society has become more accepting. "Once people felt less shamed – and I think that's really positive – there was less a feeling that they couldn't talk about it," Pruden said. But those who do want to minimize those feelings, Pruden said, "deserve to have their needs met as well." "To say to them, we're not willing to walk alongside you in your journey feels to me as cruel as the other extremes we used to be at, when people were hurt for saying, 'I'm gay, and I'm OK with that,'" Pruden said. "In a sense it's a pro-choice movement – people should have the right to deal with this." More content from NBCNews.com: Disability-compensation claims for veterans lag as 'VA backlog' worsens One month later, GOP finds plenty to blame for election loss More than 20,000 students to miss school as teachers in Chicago suburb strike 'You killed Jesus' scrawled on Hanukkah menorah Video: Friend goes to get beer, finds kittens in freezer Witnesses: Man pushed to his death on NYC subway tracks after argument Follow US news from NBCNews.com on Twitter and Facebook

CNN en Español launching CNN Latino

CNN Latino targets the growing and diverse U.S. Hispanic market, delivering a broad spectrum of programming "The U.S. market is so diverse and so large that there is room for two distinctive content options," said CNN executive There is a company-wide initiative at CNN to produce more content for the U.S. Hispanic audience This will be CNN en Español's first attempt in creating an alternative programming block for broadcast Spanish-language TV (CNN) -- CNN en Español will launch CNN Latino, a new Spanish language syndicated programming block custom made for the U.S. Hispanic market, in late January 2013. CNN Latino targets the growing and diverse U.S. Hispanic market, delivering a broad spectrum of programming that will include news, lifestyle, documentary, talk and debate as an alternative to traditional Hispanic networks. Cynthia Hudson-Fernandez, senior vice president and general manager of CNN en Español and Hispanic strategy for CNN/U.S., made the announcement this week. "There is a real demand for relevant, dynamic, quality programming and CNN Latino is a unique product designed specifically for the growing U.S. Hispanic audience, representing the dual reality of U.S. Latinos today who are multigenerational and proud to be bilingual. The launch of CNN Latino is the first step to bringing this syndicated programming block to local broadcast stations in key Hispanic media markets across the country." According to the latest census, Hispanics made up more than half the nation's population growth from 2000 to 2010. The Hispanic audience in the United States is at 52 million and counting, and its purchasing power totals more than a trillion dollars, according to the Pew Hispanic Center. "The U.S. market is so diverse and so large that there is room for two distinctive content options," said Hudson. There is a company-wide initiative at CNN to produce more content for the U.S. Hispanic audience. CNN Latino is a reflection of the continued investment in that growing market. "We're adding over 25 staff positions at CNN in Los Angeles, Mexico, Miami and Atlanta," Hudson said, "It's proof of CNN's initiative that believes in this market and is betting on the future." CNN Latino will launch in Los Angeles with a branded programming block of customized content from 3 p.m. to 11 p.m. -- including a locally produced debate show -- directed at the U.S. Hispanic audience. It will air on KBEH-DT channel 63, which is owned by Hero Broadcasting, and can be seen throughout the Los Angeles area, reaching more than 14 million people. Hero Broadcasting is a privately held television affiliate station group launched in 2007 by industry veteran Bob Behar. This will be CNN en Español's first attempt in creating an alternative programming block for broadcast Spanish-language TV geared toward the U.S. Hispanic market.

Chilling details released in Alaska barista's killing

Mark Thiessen / AP During a news conference, police show surveillance video of Samantha Koenig, 18, making a cup of Americano coffee for a customer who shortly after abducted her Feb. 1, 2012, in Anchorage, Alaska. Police on Tuesday released the surveillance camera footage from the February abduction at the Common Grounds espresso stand in Anchorage. By Rachel D'Oro, The Associated Press ANCHORAGE, Alaska -- A security video showing the abduction of an Alaska barista is unnerving on its own, but it only hints at the horror ahead for the 18-year-old woman. Samantha Koenig would soon be sexually assaulted and strangled after she was kidnapped from an Anchorage coffee stand, her body left in a shed for two weeks while her killer went on a cruise. After he returned, Israel Keyes photographed Koenig for a ransom note and then dismembered her body. Those details were released by the FBI on Tuesday, two days after Keyes was found dead in his Anchorage jail cell in an apparent suicide. It's the most comprehensive account yet of a crime at the hands of a man who confessed to the slaying and told authorities he killed at least seven other people across the country over the past decade. Serial killer found dead in Alaska jail cell, officials say "These details are being provided both to fully explain the courage and resolve Samantha displayed in the final hours of her life, as well as in the hopes that the release of additional details will help investigations of other murders committed by Israel Keyes," the FBI said in a statement. Once home from his trip, Keyes posed Koenig's body to make it appear she was still alive and took a Polaroid photo of her tied up, along with a newspaper dated Feb. 13 — 12 days after the abduction from a coffee stand, according to the FBI. Keyes later typed a ransom note demanding $30,000 from Koenig's family on the back of a photocopy of the photo and sent a text message to the woman's boyfriend on her cellphone with directions where he'd left the note at a local dog park. Keyes dismembered Koenig's body and disposed of the remains in a frozen lake north of Anchorage after he cut a hole in the ice with a chain saw, authorities said. A man accused of murdering an Alaska woman and at least seven other people has taken his own life, according to police. KTUU's Rhonda McBride reports. Keyes, 34, was arrested in March in Texas, after using Koenig's stolen debit card at ATMs there and in Alaska, Arizona and New Mexico. He was facing a March trial in Koenig's death. After his arrest, Keyes confessed to killing Koenig and at least seven other people. His other known victims were Bill and Lorraine Currier of Essex, Vt., who disappeared in June 2011. Keyes told authorities he also sexually assaulted and strangled Lorraine Currier. Father of abducted barista, 18, pleads for her return The couple's bodies have not been found. Keyes did not identify the other victims or say where their remains were, other than that four were killed in Washington state and one was killed on the East Coast with the body disposed of in New York. Keyes had lived in Washington state and had property in upstate New York. He told one of the lead FBI investigators in the case that his first victim was a teenage girl in Oregon that he sexually assaulted but did not kill, the Anchorage Daily News reported. FBI special agent Jolene Goeden told the newspaper that Keyes admitted that he was a teen at the time and that "he had the intention, he said, of killing her but but did not. And he did let her go." Surveillance video Also Tuesday, authorities released video footage of Keyes abducting Koenig, caught by a surveillance camera. Another video sequence shows him returning for Koenig's cellphone late that night, leaving Koenig bound in his truck, followed four minutes later by a man identified by the FBI as Koenig's boyfriend, who was looking for her. Keyes would use the cellphone to send text messages to the boyfriend and coffee stand owner that purported to be from Koenig saying she had a bad day and was leaving town for the weekend. In the first video sequence, Keyes walks up to the small coffee stand and orders an Americano coffee, which Koenig makes. He then pulls out a gun and Koenig is then seen putting her hands up several times. At some point, Keyes makes her turn off the light. The light switch was close to a panic button, but Koenig never pushed it, probably because she was too afraid, police said. Keyes then climbs into the kiosk and, police said, used zip ties to bind Koenig's hands behind her back before leading her out. He told Koenig he would let her go if her family paid a ransom, but that was never his intention, police said. Body in icy lake is missing Alaska barista, police say "He knew all along he was going to kill her," Anchorage homicide Detective Monique Doll said. Police said Keyes removed the battery from Koenig's cellphone to avoid being tracked. Koenig's body was recovered from the lake in April after Keyes told authorities of its location. More content from NBCNews.com: Disability-compensation claims for veterans lag as 'VA backlog' worsens One month later, GOP finds plenty to blame for election loss More than 20,000 students to miss school as teachers in Chicago suburb strike 'You killed Jesus' scrawled on Hanukkah menorah Video: Friend goes to get beer, finds kittens in freezer Witnesses: Man pushed to his death on NYC subway tracks after argument Follow US news from NBCNews.com on Twitter and Facebook © 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Prank call made to duchess's nurse

The King Edward VII Private Hospital on December 4, 2012 in London, England. NEW: The hospital says it "deeply regrets" the prank call getting through to Kate's nurse NEW: A nurse at King Edward VII Hospital gives DJs details of Catherine's condition The two Australian radio DJs claimed to be Queen Elizabeth II and her son, Prince Charles Prince William's wife is being treated for acute morning sickness While the world waits for the royal baby, we'd like to hear from mothers: How did pregnancy change you? London (CNN) -- Two Australian radio DJs made a prank call to the hospital where Prince William's pregnant wife, Catherine, is staying with acute morning sickness, claiming to be Queen Elizabeth II and her son, Prince Charles. The DJs, from 2Day FM, succeeded in getting through to Kate's private nurse at King Edward VII Hospital and had a brief conversation that included some details of her condition, according to audio of the call posted online. The hospital issued a statement Wednesday confirming that the hoax call had been transferred to a ward in the early hours of Tuesday morning and a short conversation was held with one of the nursing staff. The hospital "deeply regrets" the incident, it said. Royal pregnancy births new jokes Royal baby mania gripping Britain Buzz over royal baby, hospitalization John Lofthouse, chief executive at the hospital, is quoted as saying: "This was a foolish prank call that we all deplore. We take patient confidentiality extremely seriously and we are now reviewing our telephone protocols." Prince William's office at Clarence House has not commented on the incident. Catherine, the Duchess of Cambridge, is still receiving treatment after she was admitted to the hospital Monday with acute morning sickness. Audio of the call posted online reveals that the nurse divulged details of Kate's condition and care. "She's sleeping at the moment and she has had an uneventful night, and sleep is good for her," the nurse said. "She's been given some fluids to rehydrate her because she was quite dehydrated when she came in, but she's stable at the moment.'' She also tells DJs Mel Greig and Michael Christian, who host the Summer 30 show on 2Day FM, what time William left the previous evening and suggests they visit after 9 a.m. when Catherine will be "freshened up." "She's quite stable at the moment. She hasn't had any retching with me since I've been on duty, and she has been sleeping on and off," the nurse said. "I think it's difficult sleeping in a strange bed as well." The incident is bound to raise concerns over security and privacy provisions at the hospital. Greig, who impersonated the queen, exclaims after the call ends: "She was giving us real information!" The conversation, in poorly done English accents and with frequent references to "Charles" walking the queen's corgis, her much-loved dogs, should have raised alarm bells with hospital staff. Greig herself commented on how easy it was to make the prank call. CNN's David Wilkinson, Damien Ward and Claudia Rebaza contributed to this report.

Bob Costas: We need to talk about America's gun culture

In his first television interview since his controversial commentary on the halftime show of NBC's Sunday night football coverage, sportscaster Bob Costas stood by his remarks on the murder-suicide committed by Kansas City Chiefs linebacker Jovan Belcher. He emphasized that he was not calling for gun control but rather wanted to push for a candid conversation about America's gun culture. Costas has been under fire, much of it coming from right-wing conservatives such as Herman Cain and Mike Huckabee, for promoting a political agenda, despite his agreement with NBC that he has the freedom to editorialize on sport-related subjects. Costas told MSNBC's Lawrence O'Donnell Tuesday night that he "only had about 90 seconds–and half of that, or close to half of it, was devoted to another observation"; he said the constricted time-frame may be one reason his comments were open to misinterpretation. "Where some people may have misunderstood my comments was I took one aspect of it, as expressed by a writer, whom I quoted verbatim. I took one aspect of it. I do not think this is the only aspect or possible aspect. There's clearly a domestic violence aspect. There's clearly the question, as I alluded to in a general way, of what effect playing football–which we know has debilitating effects, mind and body, at least for some–what effect that might have had. What effect alcohol and drugs might have had. And another aspect of that is easy access to guns and a gun culture. And it was that aspect–the gun culture–that I focused on. Not to the exclusion of the others but just because I didn't have all that much time." He also conceded in a lengthy radio interview on The Dan Patrick Show earlier on Tuesday that he made a mistake by leaving the gun-control discussion "open for too much miscommunication." During halftime, Costas quoted Fox Sports columnist Jason Whitlock and ended his commentary on Whitlock's thesis: "If Jovan Belcher didn't possess a gun, he and Kasandra Perkins would both be alive today."  Many of his hearers (including  Herman Cain and Ted Nugent) launched a social media attack on Costas, expressing their outrage that the sportscaster had used halftime to make what they saw as a partisan political statement. The clip was uploaded to YouTube where it went viral, attracting scores of angry comments. FOX News hosts called for Costas' termination. Costas addressed those comments tonight on MSNBC's The Last Word with Lawrence O'Donnell. "What I was talking about here, and I'm sorry if that wasn't clear to everyone, was a gun culture. I never mentioned the Second Amendment, I never used the words gun control. People inferred that. Now, do I believe that we need more comprehensive and more sensible gun control legislation? Yes I do. That doesn't mean repeal the Second Amendment. That doesn't mean a prohibition on someone having a gun to protect their home and their family. It means sensible and more comprehensive gun control legislation. But even if you had that, you would still have the problem of what Jason Whitlock wrote about, and what I agree with. And that is a gun culture in this country. It demonstrates itself in different ways. It demonstrates itself in the Wild West, Dirty Harry mentality of people who actually believe that if a number of people were armed in the theater in Aurora, they would have been able to take down this nutjob in body armor and military style artillery. When in fact almost every policeman in the country would tell you that that would have only increased the tragedy and added to the carnage." NBC News confirmed details in a Kansas City Star article outlining the last hours for both Jovan Belcher and long-time girlfriend and mother to their three-month-old daughter, Kassandra Perkins. The police report from the Kansas City Police Department shows that Belcher legally owned several guns, and police are testing each one, including the gun found with Belcher's body, along with shell casings and bullets. Investigators indicate the couple's history of financial pressures and personal issues was widely-known, and that the Chiefs were providing counseling for them. Still, it wasn't enough–the couple had a unresolved fight at 1 a.m. the night before. Kansas City police found Belcher asleep in his Bentley on Armour Boulevard. Police believe Belcher arrived home around 7 a.m. the following morning when another argument ensued. This one prompted the shooting. Belcher's mother, who had been watching their baby the night before, heard gunfire as she stood in the kitchen. She rushed to the master bedroom where she found Belcher kissing the dying Perkins on the forehead. Belcher got in his car and headed to his other home–Arrowhead Stadium–where the Chiefs had a 9:30 a.m. team meeting. He stepped out of his Bentley with a gun pointed at his head, telling Chiefs General Manager Scott Pioli, "I did it. I killed her." Pioli attempted to dissuade Belcher from taking his own life. The linebacker thanked the manager for everything he had done for him. Chiefs Head Coach Romeo Crennel and linebackers coach Gary Gibbs rushed to the parking lot and asked him to put the weapon down. The men heard police sirens and Belcher started to retreat with the gun still pointed to his head. "I got to go," Belcher reportedly told his coaches. "I can't be here." And with a single gunshot, Belcher took his own life. Costas said it was not unique for an athlete's life to be ruined by the availability of guns. "Give me one example of an athlete–I know it's happened in society–but give me one example of a professional athlete who by virtue of his having a gun, took a dangerous situation and turned it around for the better. I can't think of a single one. But sadly, I can think of dozens where by virtue of having a gun, a professional athlete wound up in a tragic situation." Costas believes he helped further a much-needed conversation about America's gun culture. "The ready, easy availability of guns makes mayhem easier…The easy availability of guns makes this sort of thing just far more likely to occur. If somebody points out that the country has a problem with nutrition and obesity, that doesn't mean they're going to ban fast food.  But they are making you aware of some of the dangers and hoping to moderate peoples' behavior. And if nothing else, even if some people disagree with me or misinterpret what I said, if it started a conversation then I think that's a good thing." 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LA mayor: Deal ends $8 billion port strike

View more videos at: http://nbclosangeles.com. By NBCLosAngeles.com and wire reports Updated at 4:16 a.m. ET: LOS ANGELES -- An agreement was reached Tuesday night to end the crippling strike at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, according to Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa. The announcement came just hours after federal mediators arrived at the port of Los Angeles, called on by Villaraigosa to help resolve a strike that has idled most of the docks at the ports for more than a week. The eight-day labor clash cost Southern California an estimated $8 billion, including lost wages and the value of cargo rerouted to other ports over the past week, according to Reuters. Los Angeles and Long Beach together account for nearly 40 percent of all U.S. container imports. George Cohen, director of the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service, and Scot Beckencaugh, deputy director for mediation services, arrived Tuesday night to begin talks between shipping and union officials, the mayor's office announced. It was unclear whether a vote had been planned prior to their arrival or what role they played in the developments late Tuesday. The mayor flew back from a trip abroad to help bring an end to the work stoppage, staged by clerical workers who use computers to help track the progress of shipments into and out of the nation's busiest port complex. Villaraigosa, a onetime labor activist who had been in Latin America pitching Southern California's port operations to manufacturers, shippers and retailers there, arrived at the harbor at about 11 p.m. Monday, joining the negotiations in the hope of brokering a deal. More news from NBCLosAngeles.com Tuesday morning, he said, he called to request help from a federal mediator. The mayor said he also discussed the matter with California's two Senators, Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer, and that he has placed a call to the White House. Despite claims by both sides that they had made significant concessions in the talks so far, Villaraigosa said at a news conference that neither had moved on issues of top concern to the other. In particular, he said, the union, which is worried about outsourcing jobs, might need to compromise on other issues to get movement on its top priority. As the talks dragged on, the clerical workers continued to walk picket lines. Each side blamed the other for the slow pace of negotiations. Both sides have agreed to accept federal mediation to try to end the labor action at the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach. NBC's Brian Williams reports. John Fageaux, spokesman for Local 63 of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union, said his organization had backed down on a demand that the companies re-hire 51 positions that the union said had been outsourced, but received no productive response from the employers. But Stephen Berry, an attorney representing the shipping companies, said those jobs had never been outsourced in the first place. Instead, he said, they represented positions that had been held by clerical workers who were not replaced after they retired. For his part, Berry said that the shipping companies had agreed to one of the union's key demands, saying that they would hire certain temporary workers from the union's hiring hall, rather than going to outside contractors. But he said that the union was not satisfied with that offer. He said the union failed to recognize that the economy had still not recovered from the boom years. The stoppage at 10 of the port's 14 terminals will not affect holiday shipments, experts said, because the toys, books, electronics and clothes aimed at the gift market arrived months ago. But Villaraigosa said it affects about 20,000 truck drivers, retailers and others who are awaiting shipments for upcoming seasons. The ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach together handled more than $400 billion in goods arriving or leaving the West Coast by ship last year, according to Reuters. Experts say the ports directly or indirectly support 1.2 million Southern California jobs - workers involved in moving freight to or from the shipping complex.  NBCLosAngeles.com's Sharon Bernstein and Annette Arreola and Reuters contributed to this report.

World's oldest woman dies at Ga. nursing home

Jessica Mcgowan / Guinness World Records Besse Cooper celebrates her 116th birthday in Monroe, Ga., on August 26. By NBC News wire services A 116-year-old woman listed by Guinness World Records as the oldest living person died on Tuesday in a nursing home in Georgia. Besse Cooper died peacefully at the Park Place nursing home in Monroe, Georgia, according to her son Sidney Cooper. "She looked real good when she passed away," the 77-year-old Cooper told Reuters, saying his mother died quietly and without suffering. "She got up this morning, had a big old breakfast and got her hair fixed," he said. "It's just like she got up planning to do it." He said his mother, who taught school until her first child was born in 1929, had four children. All of them survived her and are still in good health, he said. "She lived in three centuries. Don't many people do that," said Cooper. He added that his mother died after a brief bout of breathing trouble that put her back in bed after lunch. 'I don't eat junk food' When asked for her secret to a long life, Cooper told the Guinness website earlier this year: "I mind my own business. And I don't eat junk food." Sidney Cooper said his mother was a strong, determined woman who, like the school teacher she was, could be a disciplinarian. She was fair and honest, he said, but "when she said something needed to be done, you'd better do it." Besse Cooper was born in Sullivan County, Tennessee, on August 26, 1896. She began to go to school at age 5 -- yes, she walked from a log cabin -- to make sure one of her brothers attended. She grew to love going to class and eventually went to East Tennessee Normal School (now East Tennessee State University) in Johnson City to study education.  When she graduated, she got a job earning $35 a month. When she heard from a friend she could make more in Georgia, she got a job in Monroe making twice as much.  She married Luther Cooper in 1924, and he died in 1963. She never remarried. Sidney Cooper said his mother always said her best years were when she was in her 80s. World's oldest woman celebrates her sweet 116th birthday He said he would always remember her with her straw hat on, working in the flower garden, scratching weeds away with her hoe. She always had fresh-cut flowers in her home, and in her later years, her family would bring some to her room.  She also loved to watch the news on television, her son said. "She was very intelligent," Sidney Cooper said. "She loved to read." Her eyesight had deteriorated, though, and she no longer read the Bible or any of the great works of fiction. Aside from a few heart issues, she was in "amazing" health, her son said, adding that she never complained of pain even in her final days. As for her voting record, Besse Cooper didn't vote this year. Neither she nor her husband voted in 1948. They thought Thomas Dewey was a shoo-in.  Besse Cooper was certified as the world's oldest person by Guinness World Records in January 2011. Besse Cooper of Monroe, Ga., is now believed to be the oldest living person at 114 years old. Msnbc.com's Al Stirrett reports. The title was stripped from her for a few months when it was discovered that Brazilian-born Maria Gomes Valentim, a fellow super centenarian, was 48 days older. Guinness gave the title back to Cooper after Gomes Valentim died in June 2011. Besse Cooper is survived by four children, 11 grandchildren, 13 great-grandchildren and two great-great grandchildren.  The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report. More content from NBCNews.com: Disability-compensation claims for veterans lag as 'VA backlog' worsens One month later, GOP finds plenty to blame for election loss More than 20,000 students to miss school as teachers in Chicago suburb strike 'You killed Jesus' scrawled on Hanukkah menorah Video: Friend goes to get beer, finds kittens in freezer Witnesses: Man pushed to his death on NYC subway tracks after argument Follow US news from NBCNews.com on Twitter and Facebook