Rafter was born in Brooklyn, New York, USA, on 1 January 1910. Her parents were Italian immigrants. When she was 8 years old, a doctor told her mother how Rafter wouldn’t live much longer. Her mother would give her a special diet of raw egg, goats milk and chicken, and she lived. She worked as a seamstress during her younger years and volunteered much of her time to Holy Child R.C. Church in Eltingville.
At some point, she married Patrick Joseph Rafter, with whom she had a son, Patrick Joseph. At the age of 65, she learned to drive so she could help raise her four grandsons when their mother died.
Rafter passed away at Clove Lakes Health Care & Rehabilitation Center in Staten Island, New York, USA, on 22 April 2020, at the age of 110.
Her age was validated by LongeviQuest on 12 July 2023.
* “Staten Island super centenarian Concetta Rafter turns a whopping 105 years young!” – SI Live, 2 January 2015
* “Concetta Rafter turns 107 years young on New Year’s Day” – SI Live, 2 January 2017
* “Concetta Rafter Obituary (1910 – 2020)” – Staten Island Advance, 6 May 2020