María Branyas Morera

BIOGRAPHY

Maria Branyas Morera was born in San Francisco, California, USA on 4 March 1907 to parents Josep Branyas Julià (born 1877) and Teresa Morera Laqué (born 1880). She had three siblings: Josep (born 1902), Teresa (born 1905), and William (born 1913).

In 1903, her father, Josep, traveled to Mexico via Veracruz to continue an uncle’s business. On 19 May 1904, he returned to Veracruz, Mexico, to await the arrival of the ship SS Montserrat and reunite with his wife, Teresa Morera, and their young son, Josep Branyas. The family later emigrated to San Francisco, USA, on 5 October 1906. From there, they traveled to New Orleans before eventually settling in Olot, Catalonia, Spain, in May 1915. During the voyage to Spain aboard the Catalania, María suffered a fall that damaged her eardrum, causing permanent hearing loss in one ear. Toward the end of the journey, her father passed away from pulmonary tuberculosis at the age of 37, leaving her mother to raise their five children alone.

On 16 July 1931, she married Joan Moret Roura, and together they had three children: August (1932), Teresa (1933), and Rosa (1944).

When the Spanish Civil War broke out on 18 July 1936, her husband fled to France before re-entering Spain through San Sebastián, where friends helped him. He was assigned as a military doctor in Trujillo, Extremadura. Shortly after, María moved there with their two children, August and Teresa. In 1939, following the end of the war, the family returned to Catalonia, settling at 12 Minali Street in Girona.

In November 2000, at the age of 93, Branyas Morera moved into a care home in Olot. Even at 110, she reportedly read the newspaper daily. As of August 2019, she had 11 grandchildren and 11 great-grandchildren. She was deaf in one ear and partially deaf in the other, requiring special precautions at her nursing home. Despite communication challenges, her relatives conversed with her using a voice-to-text device.

In April 2020, at 113 years old, she tested positive for COVID-19 but made a full recovery, becoming the oldest recorded survivor of the disease until Lucile Randon of France, then 116, recovered in 2021. In a subsequent interview with The Observer, Branyas Morera called for a transformation in elderly care, stating: “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.”

In January 2021, she received both doses of the COVID-19 vaccine, making her one of the oldest validated supercentenarians to be vaccinated.

María Branyas Morera passed away on 19 August 2024, at the age of 117 years, 168 days.

RECOGNITION

On 22 December 2019, she became the Oldest Living Person in Spain following the death of Josefa Santos Gonzalez. She became the last living person in Spain born in 1907, following the death of Virtudes Tomas Navarro on 20 April 2020.

She became the last (known) living person in Europe born in 1907, following the death of Marie-Louise Berthelot (France) on 16 January 2021.

She became the last person living in Spain born in the 1900s decade, following the death of Saturnino de la Fuente García on 18 January 2022.

In 2022, at the age of 115, she became the oldest person ever born in the U.S. state of California.

She became the oldest validated living American-born person, following the death of Thelma Sutcliffe on 17 January 2022, as well as the oldest validated living person born in the Americas, following the death of Antonia da Santa Cruz on 23 January 2022.

She became the third-oldest validated living person in the world, following the death of Kane Tanaka on 19 April 2022.

She became the second-oldest validated living person in the world following the death of Tekla Juniewicz on 19 August 2022.

Branyas Morera became the World’s Oldest Living Person after the death of Frenchwoman Lucile Randon on 17 January 2023.

On 21 April 2023, at the age of 116 years, 48 days, she surpassed the final age of Ana Vela Rubio, becoming the Oldest Person Ever to have lived in Spain.

Upon her death, Japan’s Tomiko Itooka succeeded her as the oldest validated living person in the world. Ethel Caterham (UK) succeeded her as the oldest living person in Europe, while Silveria Martín Díaz became the oldest living person in Spain.