Maria Branyas Morera facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Maria Branyas
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Branyas on her 117th birthday in 2024
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| Born |
Maria Branyas Morera
4 March 1907 |
| Died | (aged 117 years, 168 days) Olot, Catalonia, Spain
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| Nationality |
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| Known for |
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| Spouse(s) |
Joan Moret
(m. 1931; died 1976) |
| Children | 3 |
Maria Branyas Morera (born March 4, 1907 – died August 19, 2024) was an amazing woman. She was born in America but lived most of her life in Catalonia, Spain. For a long time, she was known as the oldest person in the world! She lived to be 117 years and 168 days old. She became the world's oldest verified living person on January 17, 2023, after another very old lady, Lucile Randon, passed away.
Maria's Early Life
Maria Branyas was born on March 4, 1907, in San Francisco, California. Her parents, Joseph and Teresa, were from Catalonia, Spain. They had moved to America in 1906. Maria was their first child.
Her family later moved to Texas and then to New Orleans. In New Orleans, Maria's father, Joseph, worked as a journalist. He even started a Spanish-language magazine called Mercurio.
In 1915, her family decided to move back to Catalonia, Spain. Her father was having money problems and was not feeling well. The journey back was difficult because of World War I. German submarines were in the Atlantic Ocean. So, their boat had to travel a longer way, through Cuba and the Azores, to be safe.
During this long trip, Maria had an accident. She fell while playing and lost her hearing in one ear. Sadly, her father also died during the voyage from an illness called tuberculosis. After arriving in Spain, Maria's mother later remarried. The family first settled in Barcelona and then moved to Banyoles.
Family and Work
On July 16, 1931, Maria married Joan Moret. He was a doctor who specialized in treating injuries. They had three children together: August, Maria Teresa, and Maria Rosa. Sadly, August passed away in a tractor accident when he was 86.
During the Spanish Civil War, Maria worked as a nurse. She helped her husband at a hospital in Trujillo. Later, when they lived in Girona, her husband became a leader in a healthcare organization. He also directed a hospital in Girona from 1972 to 1974. Maria worked as a nurse and helped her husband until he passed away in 1976.
In the 1990s, Maria enjoyed traveling. She visited places like Egypt, Italy, the Netherlands, and England. She also loved sewing, listening to music, and reading.
In 2000, when Maria was 93 years old, she moved into a nursing home in Olot, Catalonia. She had gotten sick with pneumonia. Maria was a very active resident there. She continued to do exercises until it became harder for her to move around. She even played the piano until she was 108! Because she had trouble hearing, she used a special voice-to-text program to talk to people. Maria had 11 grandchildren.
Amazing Health and Long Life
Maria became a supercentenarian in 2017. This means she lived to be 110 years old or more! Not many people reach this age.
In March 2020, Maria made headlines. She became the oldest person at that time to recover from COVID-19. In an interview, she spoke about how important it is to treat older people well. She said, "This pandemic has shown that older people are forgotten. They fought their whole lives and sacrificed for our quality of life today. They didn't deserve to leave the world this way."
In July 2020, a special research study was named after her. It was called 'Project Branyas'. This study looked at how the coronavirus pandemic affected elderly people in care homes.
Maria officially became the oldest living person in the world on January 17, 2023. This happened after Lucile Randon from France passed away. Maria also became the oldest person ever to live in Spain on April 21, 2023. She also became the oldest person who had moved from one country to another (emigrant) on May 14, 2023.
After Fusa Tatsumi of Japan died on December 12, 2023, Maria was the last person alive who was born in 1907 and whose age was officially checked. On February 22, 2024, after Edith Ceccarelli passed away, Maria also became the last American citizen born when Theodore Roosevelt was president.
In 2023, scientists began studying Maria. They wanted to understand how she stayed so healthy and had such a good memory at such an old age.
Maria Branyas passed away peacefully in her sleep on August 19, 2024. She was 117 years and 168 days old. After her death, Tomiko Itooka became the world's oldest living person.
See also
In Spanish: Maria Branyas Morera para niños
- List of American supercentenarians
- List of European supercentenarians
- List of Spanish supercentenarians
- Oldest people
