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María Esther de Capovilla (September 14, 1889 – August 27, 2006) of Guayaquil, Ecuador, at the time of her death at age 116 years and 347 days, was an Ecuadorian supercentenarian recognized by Guinness World Records as the world's oldest living person. She was the last remaining documented person born in the 1880s.

Biography

Born as María Ester Heredia Lecaro in Guayaquil, María was the daughter of a colonel, and lived a life among the upper-class elite, attending social functions and art classes. She never smoked or drank hard liquor. In 1917, she married a military officer, Antonio Capovilla, who died in 1949. Antonio, an ethnic Italian, was born in Pola, Austria-Hungary (now Pula, Croatia) in 1864. He moved to Chile in 1894 and then to Ecuador in 1910. After his first wife died, he married María. They had five children, three of whom were still living at her passing: Hilda (81), Irma (80) and son Anibal (78). She also had eleven grandchildren, twenty great-grandchildren and two great-great-grandchildren.

At age 100, María nearly died and was given last rites, but had been free of health problems since then. As recently as December 2005 Maria was said to be in good health and able to watch TV, read the papers and walk without the aid of a stick (though she was helped by an aide). However, she was unable physically to leave her home in the past two years, which she shared with her eldest surviving daughter, Hilda, and her son-in-law. In a media interview, María stated her dislike of the fact that women nowadays are permitted to court men, rather than the reverse.

By March 2006, María's health had declined somewhat, and she was no longer able to read the newspaper. She had also nearly stopped talking and no longer walked except when helped by two persons. Still, María was able to sit erect in her chair and fan herself, and had been doing 'fine' until she succumbed to a bout of pneumonia in the last week of August 2006.

Age records

María was verified and named the "World's Oldest Person" by Guinness World Records on December 9, 2005, thus superseding both Hendrikje van Andel-Schipper (thought to be the world's oldest person from May 29, 2004 to August 30, 2005), when she died, and Elizabeth Bolden (thought to be the world's oldest person from August 30, 2005 to December 9, 2005).

Guinness noted that "María Esther de Capovilla has beaten the odds -- not only to live past 116, but to have the records to prove it." Their spokesman, Sam Knights, added in a telephone interview from London that "while a lot of the time it's difficult for people to prove their age, there was no problem with any of the documents we were shown in Mrs Capovilla's case". Capovilla was finally added to the Guinness website on April 12, 2006.

At the time of her death she was the sixth-oldest fully documented and officially validated person to have ever lived (fifth-oldest if the questionable case of Shigechiyo Izumi is discounted).

Following her death in August 2006, her successor as oldest person was Elizabeth Bolden, the previous titleholder. Mrs. Bolden became only the second person to regain the title after losing it (Jeanne Calment was the first).

See also

• List of the oldest people
• National longevity recordholders
• Oldest people
• Supercentenarian

References

• guinnessworldrecords.com
• The word from the world's oldest person (with photo)
• 116-Year-Old Ecuadorean Woman is Oldest Living Person
• World's Oldest Woman dies at 116
• Ecuadoran woman who once drank donkey milk is now world's oldest (with family photo)
• Ecuadorean woman, 116, is world's oldest (story notes Mrs Capovilla walks with assistance, not unaided)

• 1889 births
• 2006 deaths
• Ecuadorian supercentenarians