World’s oldest person dies age 117
World’s oldest person Maria Branyas Morera of Spain has passed away at magnificent the age of 117 years old.
Maria Branyas, an American-born Spaniard who was believed to be the world’s oldest person at 117, died on Tuesday (August 20), according to her relatives.
Ms Branyas’ relatives said in Catalan on her Twitter account: “Maria Branyas has left us. She died in her sleep, peacefully and painlessly.
“We will always remember her for her advice and her kindness.”
The Gerontology Research Group, which confirms information on people reported to be 110 or older, named Ms Branyas the world’s oldest known person following the death of French nun Lucile Randon last year.
Ms Branyas was born in San Francisco on March 4, 1907, before her family relocated to Spain when she was a child.
She died at the Residència Santa María del Tura nursing home in Olot, Catalonia, where she had lived since 2000.
Ms Branyas assumed the title on January 17, when Randon, also known as Sister Andre, died at the age of 118 years and 340 days, with the Guinness Book of World Records recognizing her achievement.
She told Catalan News in 2019 that she moved from San Francisco to Catalonia, Spain, by boat in 1914, during World War I.
She said, “We came here by boat. Because of the war, Germany was still assaulting the North, and you couldn’t cross the Nordic seas, but we could travel further south through the Azores and Cuba.
“In 1914, I was already aware of the situation.
Recalling both World Wars, she stated, “They were very harmful in Europe, but they also brought some advances.”
She also discussed the Spanish Civil War, which lasted from 1936 to 1939, saying, “I have very bad memories of it, some people rose up and started to commit atrocities when no one was talking about it.”
Branyas was born in the same year as the first car was registered in Barcelona.
Her Twitter handle is ‘Super Catalan Grandma’, with the following description: “I am old, very old, but not an idiot.”
The next oldest person recorded by the Gerontology Research Group is Tomiko Itooka of Japan, who is 116 and is now the world’s oldest person.
However, Jeanne Louise Calment of France is the oldest fully authenticated human to have ever lived.
She died on August 4, 1997, at the age of 122 years and 164 days.