Madrid: Maria Branyas, a US-born Spaniard who was considered the world’s oldest person at 117, has died, her family said Tuesday.
In a post on Branyas’ X account, her family wrote in Catalan: “María Branyas has left us. She has gone as she wanted: sleeping, in peace and without pain.” The Gerontology Research Group, which validates data on people believed to be 110 or older, listed Branyas as the world’s oldest known person following the death of French nun Lucile Randon last year.
Branyas beat COVID-19 at 113 years old
Branyas, born in San Francisco on March 4, 1907, lived in New Orleans for a time before her family returned to Spain when she was young. She said she had memories of crossing the Atlantic Ocean during World War I.
Memories in images of Branyas over two centuries | See
Branyas, who lived through the 1918 flu, World War I and II, and the Spanish Civil War, contracted COVID-19 in 2020, just a few weeks after her 113th birthday. She was confined to her room at the nursing home, but made a full recovery.
Her X account is called “Super Catalan grandmother” and carries the description: “I am old, very old, but not stupid.” At 113, Branyas tested positive for COVID-19 during the global pandemic, but avoided developing the severe symptoms that claimed tens of thousands of older Spaniards.
Japanese Tomiko Itooka becomes the oldest person in the world
The next oldest person recognized by the Gerontology Research Group is Tomiko Itooka of Japan, who is currently 116 years old.
At the time of his death he was living in a nursing home in the Catalan town of Olot.
His family wrote that Branyas had told them days before he died: “I don’t know when, but very soon this long journey will come to an end. Death will find me exhausted from having lived so much, but I want to greet it with a smile, feeling free and satisfied.”
(With contributions from agencies)
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