Supercentenarian Profile

María Mercedes Díaz Quijano

Born:

1898-06-27

San Javier, Maule Region

Chile

Died:

2012-12-05

Santiago

Chile

Gloria María Mercedes Díaz-Quijano Olivares was a Chilean supercentenarian, and the nation’s oldest documented person ever.

BIOGRAPHY

María Mercedes Díaz Quijano was born in San Javier, Maule Region, Chile, on 27 June 1898, to parents Francisco Díaz Quijano and Jovita Olivares. Even in her old age, she vividly recalled her experience during the 1906 Valparaíso earthquake. As a young child, she remembered tightly clinging to her father’s trousers while he held onto an orange tree during the powerful tremors. Her older brother was among the first people in San Javier to own an automobile, acquiring one in 1915. She attended a private school and grew up in a household with numerous servants, including gardeners, cooks, and butlers.

At the age of 27, she married for the first time, to Óscar Gutiérrez. Although he was already seriously ill, he insisted on going through with the marriage. His condition deteriorated during their honeymoon, and despite receiving excellent medical care and numerous visits from doctors, he died just 40 days after their wedding. Even more than 80 years later, she still described him as the great love of her life. After the end of her first marriage, she returned to her family home but soon decided to move to the capital, Santiago.

At 37, she married again, this time to an older man. He later developed diabetes and eventually passed away as well. Reflecting on their marriage, she remarked that he had spent all of her money, joking, “I won’t say a single amen to that man.” Following her second marriage, she was forced to support herself financially. At the age of 60, she began caring for patients at El Salvador Hospital. She later took a position at the newspaper La Nación. After several years, she retired and enjoyed a peaceful retirement in her apartment in Villa Los Presidentes, Ñuñoa. As her health declined with age, she eventually moved into a nursing home.

She married for a third and final time at the age of 73. On 14 December 1971, she married Oreste Antonio Solar Rodríguez in Santiago. He later died at the age of 83. She had no children from any of her three marriages.

At the age of 114, she said she no longer had the strength and energy she once possessed and spent almost all of her time in bed. Despite her physical decline, she remained mentally sharp. At the time, she said, “I pray every day to the Pope and to God to forgive all my sins, and I also pray to my mother, asking her to take me to her side soon.”

María Mercedes Díaz Quijano passed away in Santiago, Chile, on 5 December 2012, at the age of 114 years, 161 days.

RECOGNITION

In December 2011, following the passing of Margarita Arriagada Cancino, she became the oldest living person in Chile, as well as the oldest known living person in South America.

At the time of her passing, she was the fifth-oldest (documented) living person in the world, after Dina Manfredini, Jiroemon Kimura, Koto Ōkubo, and Misao Okawa.

Her age is currently under review by LongeviQuest.