San Francisco-born, oldest living person dies at age 117

OLOT, Spain - Born in San Francisco in 1907, Maria Branyas Morera held the title as the oldest living person on earth. On Monday, she died in Olot, Catalonia, in Spain, at the age of 117 years, 168 days, according to the Gerontology Research Group (GRG), which records and validates supercentenarians.

On X, this week, her family shared the news. Translated from the Catalan language, they wrote, "Maria Branyas has left us. She has died as she wanted: in her sleep, peacefully and without pain." 

The family shared what Branyas Morera told them only a few days ago: "One day I will leave here. I will not try coffee again, nor eat yogurt, nor caress the Fairy..., 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."

GRG researcher Robert Young told KTVU that he had traveled to Spain to visit Branyas Morera just last year.

"This woman had a good story," Young said, "Her outlook on life, she was very matter of fact, choosing to be positive. She had a way, a philosophy that you don't want the negative stuff to get you down. Want to focus on positive things." 

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GRG researchers said that Branyas Morera’s parents immigrated to San Francisco from Catalonia, via Mexico in 1906, the year before she was born. The family's travels also brought them to New Orleans, where they emigrated from, to return to Catalonia in 1915.

During the transatlantic voyage back to Spain, Branyas Morera sustained a fall that resulted in an eardrum injury, leading to permanent hearing loss in one ear.

The trip proved to be an extremely difficult one for her family. Her father contracted tuberculosis on the ship and died at the age of 37, researchers said.

She was one of eight children, including three half-siblings. Her mother later remarried. 

Branyas Morera married at age 24. She and her husband, a doctor, had three children.

She outlived her eldest son, who died at the age of 86, according to the Guinness World Records. 

She kept active in her advanced age. "In the 1990s, Branyas travelled to Egypt, Italy, the Netherlands, and England and took up sewing, music and reading," GRG shared.

She was 93 when she moved into a nursing home. 

She was 113 years old when she tested positive for COVID-19 in April 2020, not long after the World Health Organization declared the coronavirus a pandemic. 

Branyas Morera was among the oldest recorded survivors of Covid. She's also recognized as being one of the oldest validated supercentenarians to get vaccinated from the virus, after receiving her second dose in 2021.

Researchers quoted Branyas Morera in an interview speaking of the impact of coronavirus on elderly communities. 

"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," she told the "Observer." 

GRG's Young noted with fascination that self-directed people, those who seemed to have a strong will to "basically manage their own lives, be their own boss," were tough individuals who tended to have much control over how they lived and died.  

Branyas Morera's family shared that before her passing the 117-year-old acknowledged her longevity and shared how she wished to meet death.

"Death will find me worn out from having lived so long, but I want it to find me smiling, free and satisfied." 

Branyas Morera had 11 grandchildren and more than a dozen great-grandchildren.

"We will always remember her," the family shared, "for her advice and kindness."

The Guinness World Records said, following Branyas Morera's death, 116-year-old Tomiko Itooka of Japan now holds the record as the world’s oldest living person. 

This story was reported from Oakland, Calif.