The Ecuadorian woman who was declared by Guinness World Records as the “world’s oldest person” has died. Sadly, news reports say Maria Esther de Capovilla died Sunday, less than a month before her 117th birthday.
Capovilla’s family members told local reporters that she was born in Guayaquil in western Ecuador on September 14, 1889 (the same year that Adolf Hitler was born and the Eiffel Tower was inaugurated) and lived in a ritzy neighborhood with her daughter-in-law and son.
When asked what the secret to Capovilla’s astonishingly long life was, her family members replied: “regular doses of donkey’s or goat’s milk, glasses of wine and a quiet life dedicated to her family.” They also added that Capovilla’s vision was “good up to the end and she never needed glasses.” Family members say that as a girl at the turn of the century, Capovilla “liked to go to parties but never drank alcohol.” They went on to say that at the time it was the custom for women to “touch the rim of the glass with their lips without drinking, as a sign of accepting hospitality.” Relatives say Capovilla enjoyed 116 “blissful” years on earth. She died of complications from pneumonia at a local hospital, her family said. According to a local newspaper, Capovilla had five children, 11 grandchildren, 20 great-grandchildren and five great great grandchildren.
According to the Guinness Book of World Records in December, Capovilla “beat” a U.S. woman to claim the title of “world’s oldest person,” but now it appears the crown will return to America and be given to Elizabeth Bolden, from Memphis, Tennessee. Born on August 15, 1890, she had previously been regarded as the oldest living person.
“She’s probably the oldest person alive right now, but that’s up to Guinness to announce,” said Stanley Primmer, the head of Supercentenarian Research Foundation, a nonprofit group that studies longevity in Pittsburgh.
Guinness says the oldest “fully authenticated age to which any human has ever lived is 122 years and 164 days.” So, who was the person who spent that much time on earth? Jeanne Louise Calment who was born in France on February 21, 1875, and died on August 4, 1997. I don’t know how these women do it; sometimes I wonder if I will live to see 42 let alone 122!