Wednesday, August 28, 2024

A01739 - Maria Branyas Morera, World's Oldest Person

Maria Branyas Morera, World’s Oldest Person, Dies at 117

Born before the emergence of the telephone, she came to embrace the digital revolution and cultivated a following on social media as “Super Catalan Grandma.”

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A woman sits in a chair with two balloons tied to it, in front of a cake with three candles in the shape of the number 117.
Maria Branyas Morera celebrated her 117th birthday in March at the nursing home in Spain where she lived.Credit...Residencia Santa Maria Del Tura De Olot, via Reuters

By Ali Watkins

Leer en español

Maria Branyas Morera, an American-born Spanish woman believed to be the oldest person in the world, died on Monday in Olot, Spain. She was 117.

Her family wrote in a post on her X account that she had died in her sleep. She had been living in a nursing home.

“A few days ago she told us: ‘One day I will leave here. I will not try coffee again, nor eat yogurt, nor pet my dog,’” her family wrote in Catalan in the post. “‘I will also leave my memories, my reflections, and I will cease to exist in this body. One day I don’t know, but it’s very close, this long journey will be over.’”

Ms. Branyas was born on March 4, 1907, in San Francisco, and grew up in several American cities, including New Orleans, where her father, a journalist, started a Spanish-language magazine that went bankrupt, according to several news articles about her life.

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In dire straits, the family returned to Spain when Ms. Branyas was a child. On the boat to Spain, her father died of tuberculosis.

In Spain, she lived through the country’s civil war and the brutal Franco regime. She had clear memories of the D-Day invasion at Normandy, she told the Spanish newspaper La Vanguardia.

“I haven’t done anything special to get to this age,” she said in an interview with another Spanish, newspaper El País, this year.

But Manel Esteller, the chairman of genetics at the University of Barcelona and one of the researchers who studied the reasons for Ms. Branyas’s long life, would disagree. In addition to her genetic makeup and her lifestyle — she did not smoke and exercised moderately — Dr. Esteller said that she was a survivor of war and various hardships, which he thinks helped her live longer.

“It is thought that people that have survived struggle, they have an advantage,” he said.

Ms. Branyas married a doctor, with whom she lived in Girona, Spain, for 40 years. The couple had three children, and Ms. Branyas stayed home to raise them.

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“She had a quiet life, without work stress,” her daughter, Rosa, told El País.

Ms. Branyas had more than a dozen grandchildren. She survived a bout with Covid, as well as the general anxiety and isolation of the pandemic — a feat that she found easier, she said at the time, because she remembered a world without the modern-day comforts to which most people had become accustomed.

“We lost an endearing woman, who has taught us the value of life and the wisdom of the years,” Salvador Illa, the president of the Catalan regional government, said in a post on X.

Ms. Branyas was recognized as the oldest living person in January 2023, after the death of Lucile Randon, a French nun known as Sister André. According to the Gerontology Research Group, which tracks the world’s supercentenarians, the oldest living person is now Tomiko Itooka of Japan, who is 116 years old.

Ms. Branyas’s survivors include her two daughters, who are 91 and 82, and many grandchildren.

Reaching the age of 117 takes a toll. Ms. Branyas suffered hearing and vision loss, and in recent years she struggled to move freely. Still, she had no indication of cancer, heart disease or other mortal illnesses. She also never showed signs of dementia.

Having been born before the emergence of the telephone, Ms. Branyas came to embrace the digital revolution, fashioning herself on social media as “Super Àvia Catalana,” or “Super Catalan Grandma.” She posted bite-size pieces of life advice, observations and jokes to thousands of followers.

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In her biography on X, she wrote, “I’m old, very old, but not an idiot.”

Since becoming the oldest living person, she had to manage a torrent of media interest, and she playfully stymied the reporters who lined up outside her nursing home for interviews. The attention eventually became too much, and her family stopped allowing visitors.

Like many supercentenarians, Ms. Branyas became the subject of scientific fascination. Dr. Esteller, the researcher who studied her genetics and lifestyle, found that her genes were protective against DNA damage, and that she had low levels of fat and sugar in her blood — all of which he said was helpful for living a long life. His research also found that her cells aged much slower than she did, meaning that she had a lower “biological age” than her actual age.

The Catalan diet, which is similar to the Mediterranean diet and includes a lot of olive oil, has also been linked to longer survival, he said. He added that Ms. Branyas liked to eat yogurt.

“What do you expect from life?” a doctor once asked Ms. Branyas while retrieving blood samples for study, according to El País.

Ms. Branyas, unmoved, answered simply: “Death.” 


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Maria Branyas Morera (Catalan: [məˈɾiə ˈβɾaɲəs]; 4 March 1907 – 19 August 2024) was an American-Catalan supercentenarian who, until her death at the age of 117 years, 168 days, was the world's oldest verified living person, following the death of Lucile Randon on 17 January 2023.[2]

Personal life

Maria Branyas Morera (aged 4) sitting on a wooden fence with her family in 1911, New Orleans

Branyas was born on 4 March 1907 in San Francisco, California. She was the first child and eldest daughter to Joseph Branyas Julià (1877–1915) and Teresa Morera Laque (1880–1968). Maria Branyas was part of an expatriate family (of Catalan origin) who had moved there in 1906, the year prior to her birth.[3][4] She and her family later moved to Texas, then subsequently to New Orleans.[4][5] While in New Orleans, her father Joseph worked as a journalist and founded the Spanish-language magazine Mercurio.[5] The family decided to return to Catalonia in 1915 due to major events that impacted Branyas's father.[4][5] He was both struggling financially, declared bankruptcy, and his doctor recommended a move amid his declining health.[4][5] Due to the German naval presence in the Atlantic Ocean during the First World War, their boat had to travel via Cuba and the Azores to ensure a safe passage.[3] During the voyage, Branyas lost the ability to hear in her ear[6] after falling from the upper deck to the lower deck while playing with her brothers.[7] Branyas's father also died of tuberculosis on the voyage, and her mother later remarried.[4][8] The family settled first in Barcelona and subsequently moved northeast to the city of Banyoles.[8]

On 16 July 1931, Branyas married Joan Moret, a traumatologist, with whom she had three children: August Moret Branyas (1932–2019), who died in a tractor accident aged 86, Maria Teresa Moret Branyas (born 1933) and Maria Rosa Moret Branyas (born 1944).[9][10][11][12] During the Spanish Civil War, Branyas was employed as a nurse working by her husband's side at a Nationalist field hospital in Trujillo, Extremadura.[4][8] While later living in Girona, Moret became the regional leader of the healthcare organisation Obra Sindical 18 de Julio [es].[4] He was also the director of the Josep Trueta Hospital, then called Residencia Sanitaria Álvarez de Castro, in Girona from 1972 to 1974.[4][13] Branyas worked as a nurse and as her husband's assistant until his death in 1976.[5][14]

In the 1990s, Branyas travelled to Egypt, Italy, the Netherlands, and England and took up sewing, music and reading.[4] In 2000, she moved to a nursing home in Olot, Catalonia at the age of 93.[4][15] Branyas was described as an active resident there, continuing to perform exercises until her mobility deteriorated.[8] Branyas played the piano until she was 108, and used a voice-to-text platform to communicate due to hearing loss.[16][17][18] She had 11 grandchildren.[4]

Health and longevity

Branyas became a supercentenarian in 2017, which is achieved by about one in a thousand centenarians.[19] In March 2020, Branyas became the then-oldest[a] person to recover from COVID-19.[20] In an interview with The Observer, she called for better treatment of the elderly: "This pandemic has revealed that older people are the forgotten ones of our society. They fought their whole lives, sacrificed time and their dreams for today's quality of life. They didn't deserve to leave the world in this way".[21]

In July 2020, a research study into the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on elderly care home residents was conducted by the Spanish National Research Council and Dalt Pharmacy. The study was called Proyecto Branyas ('Project Branyas') in her honour.[4][22]

Branyas officially became the oldest living person in the world on 17 January 2023, after the death of Lucile Randon of France.[23] She also became the oldest person ever to have resided in Spain on 21 April 2023 after surpassing Ana María Vela Rubio, and the oldest emigrant ever on 14 May 2023 after surpassing Tekla Juniewicz. After the death of Fusa Tatsumi of Japan on 12 December 2023, Branyas was the last validated surviving person born in 1907.[24] On 22 February 2024, following the death of American Edith Ceccarelli, she also became the last American citizen born during the presidency of Theodore Roosevelt.

In 2023, she became the subject of scientific research as a result of maintaining good health and memory at an advanced age.[25]

Branyas died in her sleep on 19 August 2024 at the age of 117 years and 168 days.[26][27][28] After her death, Tomiko Itooka became the world's oldest living person.[29]

See also

Notes

  1. ^ Branyas remained the oldest person to recover from COVID-19 until January 2021, when Lucile Randon, who was three years Branyas's senior, tested positive days before her 117th birthday.

References

  1. ^ "Maria Branyas Morera". LongeviQuest. 19 January 2022. Archived from the original on 15 April 2023. Retrieved 20 August 2024.
  2. ^ "World's oldest person, French nun Sister Andre, dies aged 118". The Irish Times. 17 January 2023. Archived from the original on 17 January 2023. Retrieved 17 January 2023.
  3. ^ Jump up to:a b Jordan, Guifré (17 January 2023). "Catalonia's Maria Branyas becomes oldest living person on Earth at 115". Catalan News. Archived from the original on 22 August 2024. Retrieved 18 January 2023.
  4. ^ Jump up to:a b c d e f g h i j k l Simón, Pedro (23 July 2020). "Maria, la Española de 111 años que derrotó al coronavirus" (PDF). El Mundo (in Spanish). pp. 37–8. Archived (PDF) from the original on 18 March 2023. Retrieved 18 January 2023.
  5. ^ Jump up to:a b c d e Dusster, David (13 October 2019). "María Branyas, la abuela de Catalunya: "No he hecho nada más que vivir"". La Vanguardia (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 3 February 2023. Retrieved 18 January 2023.
  6. ^ Arqué Nueno, Virgínia (20 July 2024). "Maria Branyas, la persona més gran del món, ja és la vuitena més longeva de la història". 3Cat (in Catalan). Archived from the original on 21 July 2024. Retrieved 22 July 2024.
  7. ^ Branyas, Maria (18 December 2020). "Tweet by Super Àvia Catalana". Twitter (in Catalan). Archived from the original on 18 March 2023. Retrieved 19 January 2023.
  8. ^ Jump up to:a b c d Costa-Pau, Aniol (18 January 2023). "La 'superàvia catalana' ja és la persona més vella del món". Ara (in Catalan). Archived from the original on 27 January 2023. Retrieved 18 January 2023.
  9. ^ García, Andrea (23 July 2020). "Tot un exemple: Maria, la catalana que ha superat el coronavirus amb 113 anys". Catalunya Diari (in Catalan). Archived from the original on 19 January 2023. Retrieved 19 January 2023.
  10. ^ Branyas, Maria (21 March 2022). "Tweet by Super Àvia Catalana". Twitter (in Catalan). Archived from the original on 19 January 2023. Retrieved 19 January 2023.
  11. ^ Branyas, Maria (21 March 2022). "Tweet by Super Àvia Catalana". Twitter (in Catalan). Archived from the original on 19 January 2023. Retrieved 19 January 2023.
  12. ^ Branyas, Maria (21 March 2022). "Tweet by Super Àvia Catalana". Twitter (in Catalan). Archived from the original on 22 January 2023. Retrieved 19 January 2023.
  13. ^ Roig García, Josep; Merino Palomar, Purificación; Baró Seguí, Joan (2006). De la Residència a hospital d'alt nivell: 50 anys de l'Hospital Dr. Josep Trueta de Girona (1956–2006) (PDF) (in Catalan) (1st ed.). Girona: Generalitat de Catalunya: Department of Health. pp. 160–161. ISBN 978-8439370482. Archived from the original (PDF) on 26 October 2023. Retrieved 18 January 2023.
  14. ^ "La història de la Maria Branyas, la persona més vella del món". www.naciodigital.cat (in Catalan). 18 January 2023. Archived from the original on 28 January 2023. Retrieved 19 January 2023.
  15. ^ Jordan, Guifré (19 August 2019). "Meet Catalonia's oldest person, a 112-year-old". Catalan News. Archived from the original on 19 January 2023. Retrieved 18 January 2023.
  16. ^ Georgiou, Aristos (18 January 2023). "World's oldest person Maria Branyas did this until she was 108 years old". Newsweek. Archived from the original on 26 January 2023. Retrieved 26 January 2023.
  17. ^ "Décès de sœur André: Maria Branyas Morera, 115 ans, serait la nouvelle doyenne de l'humanité". Sudouest (in French). 18 January 2023. ISSN 1760-6454. Archived from the original on 22 August 2024. Retrieved 19 January 2023.
  18. ^ "World's oldest living person confirmed as US-born Spanish woman". Guinness World Records. 19 January 2023. Archived from the original on 20 September 2023. Retrieved 26 January 2023.
  19. ^ Maier, H.; Gampe, J.; Jeune, B.; Robine, J.-M.; Vaupel, J. W., eds. (25 May 2010). Supercentenarians. Demographic Research Monographs. Springer. p. 338. doi:10.1007/978-3-642-11520-2. ISBN 978-3-642-11519-6. Archived from the original on 4 August 2014. Retrieved 24 April 2023.
  20. ^ "Catalonia's senior-most citizen survives Covid-19 at age 113". Catalan News. 11 May 2020. Archived from the original on 21 January 2023. Retrieved 18 January 2023.
  21. ^ Kassam, Ashifa (16 May 2020). "113-year-old coronavirus survivor: 'The elderly are the forgotten ones of society'". The Observer. ISSN 1756-3224. Archived from the original on 17 May 2020. Retrieved 2 January 2023.
  22. ^ "Maria Branyas". Branyas Project. Archived from the original on 18 January 2023. Retrieved 18 January 2023.
  23. ^ "World's oldest person, French nun Sister Andre, dies aged 118". The Irish Times. 17 January 2023. Archived from the original on 17 January 2023. Retrieved 17 January 2023.
  24. ^ "World Supercentenarian Rankings List – Gerontology Research Group". Archived from the original on 8 March 2024. Retrieved 5 February 2024.
  25. ^ "Scientists study world's oldest person to unearth secret to long life". The Independent. 26 October 2023. Archived from the original on 28 October 2023. Retrieved 28 October 2023.
  26. ^ "Muere Maria Branyas, la persona más longeva del mundo, a los 117 años". La Vanguardia (in Spanish). 20 August 2024. Archived from the original on 22 August 2024. Retrieved 20 August 2024.
  27. ^ "World's oldest person dies in Spain at 117, says family". RTÉ News. 20 August 2024. Archived from the original on 20 August 2024. Retrieved 20 August 2024.
  28. ^ "S'ha mort Maria Branyas, la persona més gran del món". Vilaweb.cat (in Catalan). 20 August 2024. Archived from the original on 20 August 2024. Retrieved 20 August 2024.
  29. ^ Atwal, Sanj (21 August 2024). "116-year-old Japanese woman confirmed as world's oldest living person". Guinness World Records. Archived from the original on 21 August 2024. Retrieved 21 August 2024.
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