ECUADOR: Earth's Oldest Person Dies at 116

Ecuador woman's last words: `I want to be young again' QUITO, Ecuador The Toronto Star - AP), August 29, 2006: Maria Esther de Capovilla, the oldest person on Earth according to Guinness World Records, was laid to rest yesterday in a simple ceremony after dying from pneumonia at the age of 116. She ate 3 meals a day and shunned hard liquor Capovilla died Sunday in a hospital in the coastal city of Guayaquil two days after falling ill, said her granddaughter Catherine Capovilla. She was interred in a family tomb in a mausoleum. Elizabeth Bolden of Memphis, Tenn., is now the oldest known person alive, according to Guinness. She is also 116 — but 11 months younger than Capovilla, who had been given last rites 16 years ago before recovering from illness. "The next oldest person is going to be presumed to be Elizabeth Bolden," said Robert Young, a senior consultant on gerontology for Guinness. Born on September 14, 1889 — the same year as Charlie Chaplin and Adolf Hitler — Capovilla traced her lineage to Spanish nobility. She was married in 1917 to an Austrian sailor who visited Ecuador, and was widowed in 1949. Shortly before she died, she kept repeating, "I want to be young again" and at times called to a dead daughter, asking her "to come, take me with you," another granddaughter Cecilia Icaza said. "My dear grandmother came down with a small cold" last week, she said. "She was very weak. We checked her into the military hospital in Guayaquil, where she got worse and died." Capovilla was confirmed as the oldest living person on Dec. 9, 2005, after her family sent details of her birth and marriage certificates to the British-based publisher. Emiliano Mercado Del Toro, of Puerto Rico, retains the title as oldest man. He turned 115 on Aug. 21. Capovilla was from a well-to-do Ecuadorean family, which "has a heraldic shield from the Spanish ancestry," Young said. Her father was a colonel in Ecuador's army. In her youth, Capovilla liked to embroider, paint, play piano and dance the waltz, the family said. She also visited a nearby plantation, where she drank fresh milk from donkeys and cows. Later, she wed Antonio Capovilla. Three of their five children — Irma, 79, Hilda, 81, and son Anibal, 78 — are still alive, along with about a dozen grandchildren and 20 great-grandchildren, the two granddaughters told The Associated Press. Capovilla always ate three meals a day and never smoked or drank hard liquor — "only a small cup of wine with lunch and nothing more," Irma told AP last December. For the past 20 years, Capovilla had lived with her elder daughter, Hilda, and son-in-law. Fervently religious, Capovilla took communion every Friday, and always joined the family for meals, often enjoying lentils and chicken for lunch. Capovilla liked to watch TV and read newspaper headlines. Soon after celebrating her 100th birthday, Capovilla became bedridden and so weakened from a stomach ailment that a priest administered last rites. But she recovered. "She was in good shape until she had a bout of pneumonia and she died unexpectedly. Her family was expecting to have a 117th birthday party," said Young. "They had recently said that she was in good shape." Young said Capovilla's claim to the title as oldest person was particularly significant because of the wealth of supporting documentation her family provided to prove her age was authentic. Capovilla "had baptismal records, marriage records, children's birth certificates, she had an ID card, and she had several other records too, including doctors records," Young said. "When the planet Pluto was discovered, she was like 41 years old. She was like 22 years old when the Titanic sank." The oldest person ever whose age was authenticated, according to Guinness, was Jeanne Louise Calment, who lived to 122 years and 164 days. She was born in France on Feb. 21, 1875, and died on Aug. 4, 1997. By Dolores Ochoa Copyright Toronto Star Newspapers Limited.