BIOGRAPHY

Jaramillo was born in Ituango, Antioquia, Colombia on 17 May 1906. Her mother, Mercedes Chavarria Rojo, died at the age of 70, and her father, Antonio Jaramillo Cossio, at 53.

Although she never married, she had five children. Two of her children died at a young age. Her eldest daughter, Morelia, died at the age of 41.

For most of her life, she worked as a coffee collector or prepared meals for farm workers. She didn’t have her own house, so she used to sleep at the farms that gave her the jobs. Sometimes, she had to walk for hours to go to another farm. Sometimes, she would still be on her way to another farm when the night came, so she had to stay the night on the road with her children. Her eldest son had built a house for her later. In the late 1960s, Jaramillo moved to Medellín, Antioquia, with her youngest daughter, Alicia – when she turned 17. All her life she lived with or near her two daughters, while her son moved to another city to live independently.

Her younger sister died at the age of 93, and one of the brothers at 82.

According to her daughter, Maria Alicia Jaramillo who was 69 years old as of May 2019, she lost contact with two of her children, one of whom was 81 years old at that time. The second one was her son who lived in Uraba Antioquia.

Jaramillo died in Itagüí, Antioquia Department, Colombia, on the morning of 15 July 2020, at the age of 114 years, 59 days.

RECOGNITION

On 20 June 2018, she surpassed the age of Ana Sara Marquez de Ramirez (1904–2016), becoming the oldest validated person who ever lived in Colombia.

Following the death of 112-year-old Alicia Castillo on 25 September 2018, she became the oldest known living person in Colombia.

Her age was verified by Stefan Maglov, Fabrizio Villatoro and Santiago García Medina, and validated by the GRG on 29 April 2021.

ATTRIBUTION

GALLERY