Sandy Allen | Tallest woman, 53

Sandy Allen, 53, a woman who grew to be 7 feet, 7 inches tall and was recognized as the world's tallest female, died yesterday.

Ms. Allen, who used her height to inspire schoolchildren to accept those who are different, died at a nursing home in her hometown of Shelbyville, Ind. The cause of death was not yet known. She had been hospitalized in recent months with a blood infection, along with diabetes and other health problems.

Ms. Allen said a tumor caused her pituitary gland to produce too much growth hormone. She underwent an operation in 1977 to stop further growth. But she was proud of her height, family friend Rita Rose said. "She embraced it. She used it as a tool to educate people," Rose said.

Ms. Allen appeared on television shows and spoke to church and school groups to bring youngsters her message that it was all right to be different. She wrote to Guinness World Records in 1974, saying she would like to get to know someone her own height. "It is needless to say my social life is practically nil and perhaps the publicity from your book may brighten my life," she wrote.

In London, Guinness World Records spokesman Damian Field confirmed yesterday that she was still listed as the tallest woman. In the 1980s, she appeared for several years at the Guinness Museum of World Records in Niagara Falls, Ontario. In recent years, difficulty with mobility forced her to curtail her public speaking.

- AP