BIOGRAPHY

Gauvin was born in the village of Méhandoul in the commune of Sainte-Anne-sur-Vilaine, Ille-et-Vilaine department, Brittany, France, on 22 August 1913.

In 1935, she married Pierre Gauvin and went on to have six children (including Michel, Madeleine, and Marie). The couple worked together on a farm in Port-de-Roche.

On 6 August 1944, during World War II, Germans arrived in the village of Port-de-Roche. They forced all residents out of their homes on the farms and lined them up with their backs against a wall. Among them, they took her husband away. Hours later, when she found him, he was covered in blood, though it wasn’t his own. He recounted to her that they had taken him further into Port-de-Roche, where they had killed clerks. He and some other men were forced to collect the bodies and unload them at the cemetery before they were released. At some point, her husband was mobilized, leaving her alone with young children and pregnant on the family farm. Her father-in-law came to help her, and the entire family took care of the children until her husband returned. He managed to avoid being captured during the war and safely crossed into free France before returning to the village.

After retiring in 1967, they purchased a house in La Théotière, also located in Sainte-Anne-sur-Vilaine, near their eldest daughter Marie Hamon. Her husband passed away in 1977.

At the age of 105, she was living in Sainte-Anne-sur-Vilaine with her daughter and son-in-law. Two of her children were deceased at this point. Three weeks before her 109th birthday, she moved into a retirement home in Grand-Fougeray. At the time, she had 17 grandchildren, 30 great-grandchildren and 6 great-great-grandchildren.

Maria Gauvin passed away in Grand-Fougeray, Ille-et-Vilaine, Brittany, France, on 30 November 2024, at the age of 111 years, 100 days.

RECOGNITION

Her age was verified by the Les Centenaires Français, and validated by the ESO on 10 January 2024. The validation was confirmed as valid by LongeviQuest on 12 March 2024.

ATTRIBUTION

* “Sainte-Anne-sur-Vilaine | A 105 ans, Maria Gauvin plume encore les poulets et taille ses haies” – France Bleu, 21 August 2018

* “Portrait : près de Rennes, une centenaire conte l’histoire de son village” – Actu.fr, 31 August 2018

* “À 109 ans, Maria Gauvin est la doyenne de la Bretagne” – Ouest-France, 23 August 2022

* “PORTRAIT. « Elle a son caractère ! » : doyenne des Bretons, Maria Gauvin est devenue supercentenaire” – Ouest-France, 25 August 2023

* “La doyenne des Bretons, Maria Gauvin, est décédée à 111 ans” – Ouest-France, 2 December 2024

GALLERY