A Life Spanning Over a Century
The world’s oldest woman, Maria Branyas Morera, first from the United States and later residing now in Spain, has died at 117 years and 168 days. Born in California on March 4, 1907, she died past a century of life, surviving the 1918 flu epidemic and the COVID-19 epidemic.
Her family, who was in charge of handling her social media or accounts, shared the tragic news on X(formerly Twitter) on Tuesday” “Maria Branyas Morera has left us. She has died as she wished- in her sleep. calmly, without suffering. A pioneer, she was truly the family’s matriarch”.
A Remarkable Journey Through Global Pandemics
There is no doubt that Maria Branyas Morera’s life was quite phenomenal. She survived both big world disasters, which killed many people, especially the elderly. Despite these adversities, however, she did not give up and remained to be a living example, telling a tale of her lifetime.
A few months before her death, the Gerontology Research Group, an organization that authenticates the ages of supercentenarians, recognised her as the world’s oldest known living person. Guinness World Records also paid tribute to her memory. The organization stated, “Guinness World Records is saddened to learn that Maria Branyas Morera, the world’s oldest person, has passed away.”
Morera ranks as the eighth-oldest person in history with a completed lifespan, having been born inside the U.S.
Smiling, Free And Content
In her final days, Morera, who lived in Olot, northeastern Spain, shared on her social media account that she felt “weak.”
“The time is near. Please do not cry—I do not like tears. And most importantly, do not suffer for me. Wherever I go, I’ll be happy,” she wrote.
Shortly before she passed away, Morera told her family, “One day, I’m going to leave this place. I won’t have coffee again or yogurt. I will leave behind my memories and studies, and my body will no longer live. I don’t know when, but it’s near. This long voyage will end. Death will find me tired from having lived such a long life, but I want it to find me smiling, free, and content.”
Her life and her optimism drew much attention from media outlets as well as studies that tried to find out about her health and lifestyle. She is the only justified person to have lived to 120 and above.
Who Was the Foremost Oldest Person to Pass Away?
Before Morera, the oldest person in the universe was a French nun by the name of Sister André or fuller Lucile Randon. She was born on February 11, 1904, in Ales, southern France, and she died on January 17, 2023, just weeks before she would have turned 119 on February 11.
Who’s Actually the World’s New Oldest Person?
With the demise of Morera, the Gerontology Research Group declares that the world’s oldest living person is now Tomiko Itooka of Japan, born on May 23, 1908. Today, she turned 116 years and 89 days old. A womanish supercentenarians over 110 years old are one of 7 people of world’s population.
According to this group, at the moment, among the oldest living people in the world, only females are listed.
