World's oldest person dies

**ZeoBandit** · 08.28.06, 06:37 AM

This is amazing. Imagine how much the world has changed since this person was born........

World's oldest person dies
POSTED: 4:33 a.m. EDT, August 28, 2006

QUITO, Ecuador (AP) -- Maria Esther de Capovilla, believed to be the world's oldest person, has died at 116, her granddaughter said.

Catherine Capovilla, 46, a property manager and real estate agent in Miami, said Capovilla died Sunday at 3 a.m. local time in a hospital in the coastal city of Guayaquil. She died two days after coming down with pneumonia. Her funeral was planned for Monday.

Born on September 14, 1889 -- the same year as Charlie Chaplin and Adolf Hitler -- Capovilla was married in 1917 and widowed in 1949.

Robert Young, senior consultant for Gerontology for Guinness World Records, said Elizabeth Bolden of Memphis, Tenn., now appears to be the oldest person alive.

"Guinness World Records will have to make an official announcement from London," he said. "For all practical purposes, the next oldest person is going to be presumed to be Elizabeth Bolden. She is 116, but she was born 11 months after Capovilla."

Capovilla was confirmed as the oldest living person on December 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 at 114.

Three of Capovilla's five children -- Irma, Hilda, and son Anibal -- are still alive, along with 12 grandchildren, 20 great-grandchildren and two great-great grandchildren, Catherine Capovilla told The Associated Press in a telephone interview.

In her youth, Capovilla liked to embroider, paint, play piano and dance the waltz at parties, the family said.

She 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 elder daughter, Hilda, and son-in-law, Martin.

**WinterlessIceness** · 08.28.06, 07:18 AM

Great-great grandchildren!! Wow.

One thing I wonder, why these are mostly women who live up this long. This French lady, now those other two. Women rawk

**billy007** · 08.28.06, 07:40 AM

'Cause 75 years or so with women is about all men can stand!

**Down In Flames** · 08.28.06, 07:59 AM

Yeah, yeah, old lady dies...

Abe Vigoda LIVES!!!!!!!

**smithjc** · 08.28.06, 09:38 AM

It was just business.

Abe da man.

**onefootoutthedoor** · 08.28.06, 09:57 PM

Jeez - Here I thought OLO kicked the bucket.

**smithjc** · 08.28.06, 11:51 PM

OLO wherest ye be?

**Raldo** · 08.29.06, 06:00 AM

Born in 1889?!! Wow!!!

Yes, imagine what this person has seen over the years.
She went from a life that was probably like the show "Little House on the Prarie".

**ZeoBandit** · 08.29.06, 06:31 AM

She was born a measly 24 years after Lincoln was shot. That still amazes me.

**Ted Van Halen** · 08.29.06, 06:36 AM

My wife had a great-great aunt who lived to 104. Ate liver puddin' every day of her adult life & was never hospitalized a day in her life until 2 days before she died in 1996. Didn't take any medicine except pepto-bismol occassionaly & was clear headed & in her right mind to the day she died. There's a whole wealth of knowledge & wisdom that dies w/ these people who have seen more relevant history in a decade than we'll see in a lifetime.

Ted

**racefan8** · 08.29.06, 08:49 AM

Originally Posted by ZeoHalen

She was born a measly 24 years after Lincoln was shot. That still amazes me.

That is mind boggling. Just imagine the things she witnessed in her lifetime. I'd have loved to hear some of those memories. My grandfather is 103 and a half. Still healthy as a horse. I have made a point to sit with him and listen to his stories about his life, including when he was 7 and coming to America by ship from Europe. He told me about the way the ship was packed with people, how the waves tossed it around, and how seeing America for the first time made such an impression on him. I really should sit him in front of a camcorder and film these memories. Now that's a full life.