World’s Oldest Person Dies Aged 117

Maria Branyas, the world’s oldest person at 117 years old, has died, her family confirmed on Tuesday.

The American-born Spaniard had held the title of the world’s oldest person since the death of French nun Lucile Randon last year, according to the Gerontology Research Group, an organization that verifies the ages of people who reach 110 or older.

Following her passing, Japan’s Tomiko Itooka, now 116 years old, is the oldest person alive.

In a heartfelt message shared on Branyas’ social media account, her family announced the news in Catalan, saying, “Maria Branyas has left us. She departed as she wished: peacefully, in her sleep, and without pain.”

Born in San Francisco on March 4, 1907, Branyas spent part of her early years in New Orleans, where her father founded a magazine.

Her family later returned to Spain when she was a child.

She lived through the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939) and was also alive during momentous historical events such as World War I and II, the Spanish flu and the COVID-19 pandemic.

In May 2020 she even became the oldest known person to survive COVID after contracting and fully recovering from the disease.

Branyas often recalled her trans-Atlantic journey during World War I, an adventure that marked her early years.

She had three children, one of whom has died, as well as 11 grandchildren and 13 great-grandchildren.

Known on X as the “Super Catalan Grandma,” Branyas maintained a social media presence with the tagline, “I am old, very old, but not an idiot.”

At the time of her death, Branyas was residing in a nursing home in Olot, a town in Catalonia.

Just days before her passing, she told her family, “I don’t know when, but very soon this long journey will come to an end.”

“Death will find me worn down from having lived so much, but I want to meet it with a smile, feeling free and satisfied.”

Playing the piano until the age of 108 is among the things Branyas attributed to her long life span.

Unfortunately she had to give up the practice.

“It has been many hours of my life playing the piano, until I was 108 years old,” Branyas wrote on X in 2022. “This has given me life, but my fingers have lost agility and I have to leave it for good.”

She added: “I haven’t played the piano in over 7 years. Now, at 115 years old, it is no longer just the hands that do not respond. It’s my whole body that’s deteriorating. Luckily my head is clear.”

She also led an active lifestyle until her later years and said that she never followed a specific diet regime.

“Many people ask me what diet I follow to live so many years,” she said on X in 2022. “I have always eaten little, but everything, and I have never followed any regime. I have not suffered from any illness or been through an operating room.”

“I think longevity is also about being lucky. Luck and good genetics. And good nutrition is so important, like the lifestyle we lead: order, tranquillity, good connection with family and friends, contact with nature, emotional stability, no worries, no regrets, lots of positivity and away from toxic people.”

She did say that she ate yogurt every day, which she said has “an infinite number of positive properties” for the body. In another post, she said the secret to longevity is “knowing how to choose” what to forget

“Life would be impossible if we remembered everything,” she said.