María Esther Heredia Lecaro de Capovilla, known internationally as María Capovilla (14 September 1889 – 27 August 2006), was an

Ecuadorian Ecuadorians ( es, ecuatorianos) are people identified with the South American country of Ecuador. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Ecuadorians, several (or all) of these connections exist and are colle ...

supercentenarian A supercentenarian (sometimes hyphenated as super-centenarian) is a person who has reached the age of 110 years. This age is achieved by about one in 1,000 centenarians. Supercentenarians typically live a life free of major age-related diseases u ...

, and, at the time of her death at age 116 years, 347 days, was recognized by

Guinness World Records ''Guinness World Records'', known from its inception in 1955 until 1999 as ''The Guinness Book of Records'' and in previous United States editions as ''The Guinness Book of World Records'', is a reference book published annually, listing world ...

as the world's oldest living person.

Biography

Born as María Esther Heredia Lecaro in

Guayaquil , motto = Por Guayaquil Independiente en, For Independent Guayaquil , image_map = , map_caption = , pushpin_map = Ecuador#South America , pushpin_re ...

, she was the daughter of a colonel, and lived a life among the upper-class elite, attending social functions and art classes. She never smoked and drank in moderation. In 1917, she married an Austrian military officer and sailor, Antonio Capovilla (1864–1949). Of Italian ethnicity, Antonio was born in Pola,

Austria-Hungary Austria-Hungary, often referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire,, the Dual Monarchy, or Austria, was a constitutional monarchy and great power in Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. It was formed with the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of ...

(now

Pula Pula (; also known as Pola, it, Pola , hu, Pòla, Venetian; ''Pola''; Istriot: ''Puola'', Slovene: ''Pulj'') is the largest city in Istria County, Croatia, and the seventh-largest city in the country, situated at the southern tip of the I ...

, Croatia). He moved to

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the eas ...

in 1894 and then to Ecuador in 1910. After his first wife died, he married María until his death in 1949. Together they had five children, three of whom were still living at the time of María's death: Hilda (age 81), Irma (age 79) and son Anibal (age 77). She also had twelve grandchildren, twenty great-grandchildren and two great-great-grandchildren. At age 100, Capovilla nearly died and was given

last rites The last rites, also known as the Commendation of the Dying, are the last prayers and ministrations given to an individual of Christian faith, when possible, shortly before death. They may be administered to those awaiting execution, mortall ...

, but had been free of health problems since then. In December 2005, at the age of 116, Maria was in good health for someone of her age and watched TV, read the paper and walked without the aid of a stick (though she was helped by an aide). Capovilla was unable to leave her home in the two years before her death and she shared her home with her eldest daughter Hilda, and her son-in-law. In a media interview Capovilla stated her dislike of the fact that women nowadays are permitted to court men, rather than the reverse. In March 2006, however, Capovilla's health had declined, and she was not able to read the newspaper any more. She had nearly stopped talking and no longer walked except when helped by two people. Still, Capovilla was able to sit in her chair and fan herself, and had been doing fine until she succumbed to a bout of

pneumonia Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the small air sacs known as alveoli. Symptoms typically include some combination of productive or dry cough, chest pain, fever, and difficulty breathing. The severi ...

in the last week of August 2006, 18 days before she would have celebrated her 117th birthday.

Age records

Capovilla's records were submitted to Guinness on 27 August 2005, exactly one year before her death at the age of , and was named the World's Oldest Person by Guinness World Records on 9 December 2005 at the age of , thus superseding both

Hendrikje van Andel-Schipper Hendrikje van Andel-Schipper (; 29 June 1890 – 30 August 2005) was a Dutch supercentenarian, who lived to the age of 115 years, 62 days. She is the oldest person ever from the Netherlands, breaking the previous record of Catharina van Dam ...

of the Netherlands thought to be the world's oldest person from 29 May 2004 to 30 August 2005, when she died, and

Elizabeth Bolden Elizabeth Bolden (née Jones; August 15, 1890 – December 11, 2006) was an American supercentenarian who, at the time of her death at age 116 years, 118 days, was recognized by Guinness World Records as the then- world's oldest living person.< ...

of the United States, thought to be the world's oldest person from 30 August 2005 to 9 December 2005.
pdf
) Capovilla was added to the Guinness website on 12 April 2006 at the age of . At the time of her death at age 116 years, 347 days, Capovilla was the fourth-oldest verified person to have ever lived. Capovilla had been the oldest verified

South American South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the southe ...

until from Brazil surpassed her age on 4 October 2021 and died the next day. María Capovilla was also the last living person verified to have been born in the 1880s. Following her death on 27 August 2006, her successor as oldest person was

. Bolden became only the second person to be considered the world's oldest person on two occasions (Frenchwoman and all-time world recordholder

Jeanne Calment Jeanne Louise Calment (; 21 February 1875 – 4 August 1997) was a French supercentenarian and the oldest human whose age is documented, with a lifespan of 122 years and 164 days. Her longevity attracted media attention and medical studies ...

was the first).

References

External links

The word from the world's oldest person (with photo)

World's Oldest Woman dies at 116

Ecuadoran woman who once drank donkey milk is now world's oldest (with family photo)

{{DEFAULTSORT:Capovilla, Maria 1889 births 2006 deaths Deaths from pneumonia in Ecuador Ecuadorian centenarians People from Guayaquil Women supercentenarians

Biography

Age records

See also

References

External links