The world's oldest person passed away at 117: she survived two world wars, Spanish flu and COVID-19. Photo

Spanish pensioner Maria Branyas Morera, who was listed in the Guinness Book of Records as the oldest person in the world, died at the age of 117. According to doctors, the woman was in excellent physical and psychological condition until her last day despite having lived through pandemics and wars.

The sad news was announced by the family members of the long-lived woman on her X (formerly Twitter) page. Despite her venerable age, she constantly communicated with her audience of more than 18,000 readers, the Daily Mail reports.

"Maria Branyas has left us. She died the way she wanted: in her sleep, peacefully and without pain," the woman's relatives wrote on social media.

For the past twenty years, the pensioner had been living in a specialized nursing home in the town of Olot in northeastern Spain. Employees of the facility said they were delighted with the health of the record holder, who always maintained a positive attitude. However, at the end of her life, she published her last post on social media, where she spoke about the deterioration of her condition, "I feel weak. The time is coming. Don't cry, I don't like tears. And most importantly, do not suffer because of me. You know me, wherever I go, I will be happy."

The woman faced many obstacles. She was born in 1907 in San Francisco just as the city was suffering from the bubonic plague. In 1915, her family decided to move to Spain during the First World War, which caused partial hearing loss.

She eventually survived both world wars, the Spanish flu pandemic, the civil war in her country of residence, and COVID-19. Despite the many traumatic events, she was never a pessimist. She played the piano, read newspapers, and exercised every morning until she was 105 years old.

"She had an absolutely clear head. She could recall events with amazing clarity when she was only four years old, and she had no cardiovascular disease typical of the elderly," one of the doctors described Maria Branyas Morera.

The main secrets of her impressive age were keeping order in her life, maintaining maximum calmness, and avoiding "toxic" people.

Her husband was a Catalan doctor Joan Moret, who passed away 46 years ago. She is survived by three children, eleven grandchildren and thirteen great-grandchildren.

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