Maria Esther de Capovilla, World’s Oldest Woman, Dies at 116
Category : Women Lifestyle, Women Personality
Maria Esther de Capovilla, the oldest person in the world according to Guinness World Records, has died at 116 years of age on Sunday at 3 a.m. in a hospital two days after coming down with pneumonia, said her granddaughter Catherine Capovilla.
Maria Esther de Capovilla came from a well-to-do Ecuadorean family that traced its lineage to Spanish nobility. “The family has a heraldic shield from the Spanish ancestry,” said Robert Young, senior consultant for Gerontology for Guinness World Records. Capovilla was confirmed as the oldest living person on December 9, 2005, after her family sent details of her birth and marriage certificates to the British-based publisher. Emiliano Mercado Del Toro, of Puerto Rico, retains the title as oldest man. He turned 115 last Monday.
Born on September 14, 1889 the same year as Charlie Chaplin and Adolf Hitler, Capovilla was married in 1917 and widowed in 1949. In her youth, she liked to embroider, paint, play piano and dance the waltz at parties, the family said. Capovilla’s also visited a nearby plantation, where she would drink fresh milk from donkeys as well as cows. She always ate three meals a day and never smoked or drank hard liquor. “Only a small cup of wine with lunch and nothing more,” said Irma last December.
Three of Capovilla’s five children — Irma, Hilda, and son Anibal — are still alive, along with 12 grandchildren, 20 great-grandchildren and two great-great grandchildren, the last of whom was born in February 2003.
Fervently religious, Capovilla took communion every Friday, and always joined the family for meals, often enjoying lentils and chicken for lunch, which she ate unassisted with fork and knife in small bites.
For the past 20 years, Capovilla had lived with her elder daughter, Hilda, and son-in-law, Martin. Soon after celebrating her 100th birthday, she became bedridden and so weakened from a stomach ailment that a priest administered last rites. But she recovered.
Capovilla liked to watch television, and read newspaper headlines, with some difficulty, but never with glasses. “She was in good shape until she had a bout of pneumonia and she died unexpectedly. Her family was expecting to have a 117th birthday party,” said Dr. Young. “They had recently said that she was in good shape.”
Young said Capovilla’s claim to the title as oldest person was particularly significant because of the wealth of supporting documentation her family provided to prove her age was authentic.
“Many times people claim to be extreme ages, however, often their age is either not verifiable or is fictitious,” he said. “Even in the United States, we had a woman who claimed to be 118, and we investigated. It turned out she was 109.”
Capovilla “had baptismal records, marriage records, children’s birth certificates, she had an ID card, and she had several other records too, including doctors records,” Young said.
Emiliano Mercado Del Toro, of Puerto Rico, retains the title as oldest man. He turned 115 last Monday. A senior consultant for Gerontology for the Guinness World Records said 116-year-old Elizabeth Bolden of Memphis, Tennessee, was the likely successor as the oldest person.
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