A woman classified by Guinness World Records as the oldest person in the world died on Aug. 19 at the age of 117, her family confirmed to The New York Times.
According to Guinness World Records, Maria Branyas Morera died in Spain at the Residència Santa María del Tura nursing home in Olot, Catalonia, where she has lived since 2000.
Guinness World Records passed on the title of “oldest woman living” to Branyas Morera when Lucile Randon, a nun also known as Sister André, died in 2023 at the age of 118.
So, she went through the Civil War and probably remembers a little bit of that… Wow.
Spanish Civil War ended in 1939, so she would have been 32.
It was in the lead-up to WWII so it’s not that crazy since we have a handful of WWII vets alive today. Technically, one of my remaining grandparents is old enough to remember hearing about it, at least.