Woman believed to be world’s oldest person dies aged 117, her family says

Maria Branyas Morera, an American-born Spaniard believed to be the world’s oldest person at 117, has died, her family said on Tuesday.

In a post on Ms Morera’s account on X, her family wrote: “Maria Branyas has left us. She has gone the way she wanted: in her sleep, at peace, and without pain.”

They then wrote that she had told them in the days before her death: “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.”

The Gerontology Research Group, which validates details of people thought to be 110 or older, listed Ms Morera as the oldest known person in the world after the death of French nun Lucile Randon last year.

The next oldest person listed by the group is now Japan’s Tomiko Itooka, who is 116 years old.

Ms Morera was born in San Francisco, California, on 4 March 1907, before her family returned to Spain when she was young.

She was living in Residencia Santa Maria Del Tura, a nursing home where she resided for 23 years, in the Catalan town of Olot at the time of her death.

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Speaking to Spanish news outlet ABC in November last year, scientist Manel Esteller said Ms Morera had “a completely lucid head” despite her age.

“She remembers with impressive clarity events from when she was only four years old, and she does not present any cardiovascular disease, common in elderly people,” he added.

“It is clear that there is a genetic component because there are several members of her family who are over 90 years old.”

On her X account – named Super Catalan Grandma – Ms Morera previously said her longevity was thanks to “order, tranquillity, good connection with family and friends, contact with nature, emotional stability, no worries, no regrets, lots of positivity, and staying away from toxic people”.

She also said she had “very bad memories” of the Spanish Civil War, which broke out in 1936 when she was 29.