Maria Gallegos Lopez

BIOGRAPHY

Maria Gallegos Lopez was born in Monterrey, Nuevo León, Mexico, on 11 July 1907. As a child, she witnessed the devastating San Antonio floods of September 1921, watching rescuers pull both the living and the dead from the swollen waters.

At 18, she moved from Monterrey to San Antonio, where she eventually built a home with her husband and daughter. After her first husband passed away around 1995, she later found love again. At the age of 90, she married Angelo R. Lopez (1924–2017), a man 16 years her junior, whom she met at a senior center. The couple lived independently for 15 years before moving in with her daughter. Even at 109, she continued to visit Angelo twice a week at the assisted living facility where he resided. He passed away on 5 July 2017, just days before Maria’s 110th birthday.

She dedicated countless hours in service to the St. Vincent de Paul Society at St. Cecilia’s Catholic Church in San Antonio. When asked about the secret to her longevity, her family credited her diet—saying she loved to put a lot of chili and hot peppers on her food.

Maria Gallegos Lopez passed away in San Antonio, Texas, on 7 January 2018, at the age of 110 years, 180 days. She was survived by her daughter, Rosemary Galvan, as well as four grandchildren and ten great-grandchildren.