A spritely resident of Spain’s Catalonia region, Branyas lived through two world wars and numerous events of historical importance.
Maria Branyas, who was the world’s oldest living person, has died in a Spanish nursing home at the age of 117. She lived through two world wars and numerous events of historical importance.
A spokesperson for the nursing home and her official social media account said on Tuesday that Branyas had passed away in her sleep.
The Guinness World Records had declared her the oldest living person in January 2023.
“Maria Branyas has left us. She has died as she wanted: in her sleep, peacefully and without pain,” her social media account, managed by her daughter, announced. Her bio on X, formerly known as Twitter, reads “I am old, very old, but I’m not an idiot.”
Branyas had surmised that she was at the end of her life earlier this week, stating in a social media post that “I feel weak. The time is coming. Don’t cry, I don’t like tears….You know me, wherever I go, I will be happy.”
El passat mes d’agost em vaig acomiadar de la Fada, pensant que ja no la veuria més. Ella havia de ser mare i jo pensava que no viuria tants mesos. Però aquí estem una altra estona juntes. És reconfortant acariciar el seu pèl amb els meus dits torts i gastats. Ella, com tots 👇 pic.twitter.com/L5OafzuXGm
— Super Àvia Catalana (@MariaBranyas112) March 31, 2024
Born in San Francisco, California, on March 4, 1907, Branyas moved with her family to the Spanish region of Catalonia when she was seven years old.
She spent the rest of her life there, living through the 1918 Spanish flu pandemic, the country’s bloody civil war from 1936-1939, both the world wars, and the recent COVID-19 pandemic.
Branyas attributed her long life to “order, tranquillity, good connections with family and friends, contact with nature, emotional stability, no worries, no regrets, lots of positivity, and staying away from toxic people”.
When she turned 117, Guinness identified Branyas as the 12th-oldest verified person in recorded history. The oldest was a French woman named Jeanne Calment who lived to be 122 years and 164 days old.
“One day I don’t know, but it’s very close, this long journey will be over,” her account quoted Branyas as saying several days ago. “Death will find me worn out from having lived so long, but I want it to find me smiling, free and satisfied.”