World’s oldest person US-born Spanish Maria Branyas dies at 117

Maria Branyas, known to be the world’s oldest person, passed away at a Spanish nursing home at the age of 117, shared her family on her X account. The nursing home also confirmed her demise.

“Maria Branyas has left us. She has died as she wanted: in her sleep, peacefully and without pain,” Branyas’ X account said.

Branyas, who was born in the United States, lived through two world wars, the Spanish Civil War, the 1918 flu pandemic, and the COVID pandemic.

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Branyas had suspected that her demise was going to take place on Monday, saying, “I feel weak. The time is coming. Don’t cry, I don’t like tears… You know me, wherever I go, I will be happy.”

The X account of Branyas is managed by her daughter.

She reached the age of 117, marking herself as the world’s oldest person, according to the Guinness World Records in 2023.

Born in San Francisco, California in 1907, she later relocated to the northeastern region of Catalonia with her Spanish family at the age of seven.

She spent the rest of her life living through major events in the world, like the 1936–39 Civil War, two world wars, and two pandemics: the 1918 Spanish flu pandemic and the 2020–2021 COVID-19 pandemic.

She got married in 1931 to a doctor, Joan Moret, with whom she had three children.

Her husband died in 1976. After that, her son met with a tractor accident, which became the reason for his death at the age of 86, according to the Guinness World Records website.

Scientists studied the reason for her long life, which she attributed to luck, good genetics, and “order, tranquillity, good connections with family and friends, contact with nature, emotional stability, no worries, no regrets, lots of positivity, and staying away from toxic people,” Guinness stated.

Her youngest daughter, Rosa Moret, once gave a statement on her mother’s long life: “She has never gone to the hospital, she has never broken any bones, she is fine, she has no pain,” Moret told regional Catalan television in 2023.

When she reached the age of 117, Branyas became the 12th oldest verified person in history. French woman Jeanne Calment, who lived for 122 years and 164 days, is the oldest person to have ever lived.