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{{Short description|Ecuadorian supercentenarian (1889–2006)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2019}}
{{Spanish married name|Heredia|Lecaro|Capovilla}}
{{Infobox person
| name = María Capovilla
| image = María Capovilla.JPG
| caption = Capovilla at age 115 in 2005
| birth_date = Maria Esther Heredia Lecaro<br/>{{birth date|1889|9|14|df=y}}
| birth_place = [[Guayaquil, Ecuador]]
| death_date = {{death date|2006|8|27|df=y}}<br>(aged {{age in years and days|1889|9|14|2006|8|27}})
| death_place = Guayaquil, Ecuador
| known_for = World's oldest living person from 29 May 2004 to 27 August 2006
| spouse = {{marriage|Antonio Capovilla|1917|1949|end=died}}
| children = 5
}}
'''María Esther Heredia Lecaro de Capovilla''', known internationally as '''María Capovilla''' (14 September 1889 – 27 August 2006), was an Ecuadorian [[supercentenarian]], and, at the time of her death at age [[list of the verified oldest people|116 years, 347 days]], was recognized by [[Guinness World Records]]<ref>{{cite book |title= Guinness World Records 2007 |year=2006 |url=https://archive.org/details/guinnessworldrec2007guin|url-access=registration|publisher= [[Guinness World Records]] |isbn=9781904994121 }}</ref> as the [[oldest people|world's oldest living person]].
==Biography==
Born as María Esther Heredia Lecaro in [[Guayaquil]], she was the daughter of a colonel, and lived a life among the upper-class elite, attending social functions and art classes. She never smoked and drank in moderation.<ref>Hooton, Christopher. (2015). [https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/how-live-be-really-old-10282326.html "How to live to be really old"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211018145828/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/how-live-be-really-old-10282326.html |date=18 October 2021 }}. ''The Independent''. Retrieved 18 October 2021.</ref>
In 1917, she married an Austrian military officer and sailor, Antonio Capovilla (1864–1949). Of Italian ethnicity, Antonio was born in Pola, [[Austria-Hungary]] (now [[Pula]], Croatia). He moved to [[Chile]] in 1894 and then to Ecuador in 1910. After his first wife died, he married María until his death in 1949. Together they had five children, three of whom were still living at the time of María's death: Hilda (age 81), Irma (age 79) and son Anibal (age 77). She also had twelve grandchildren, twenty great-grandchildren and two great-great-grandchildren.<ref>{{cite news|title=116-Year-Old Ecuadorean Woman is Oldest Living Person |agency=[[Associated Press]] |publisher=[[Fox News]] |date=2005-12-16 |url=https://www.foxnews.com/story/116-year-old-ecuadorean-woman-is-oldest-living-person/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130526220152/http://www.foxnews.com/story/2005/12/16/116-year-old-ecuadorean-woman-is-oldest-living-person/ |archive-date=2013-05-26 |url-status=live }}</ref>
At age 100, Capovilla nearly died and was given [[anointing of the sick|last rites]], but had been free of health problems since then. In December 2005, aged 116, Maria was in good health for someone of her age and watched TV, read the paper and walked without the aid of a stick (though she was helped by an aide). Capovilla was unable to leave her home in the two years before her death and she shared her home with her eldest daughter Hilda, and her son-in-law. In a media interview Capovilla stated her dislike of the fact that women nowadays are permitted to court men, rather than the reverse.
In March 2006, however, Capovilla's health had declined, and she was not able to read the newspaper any more. She had nearly stopped talking and no longer walked except when helped by two people. Still, Capovilla was able to sit in her chair and fan herself, and had been doing fine until she succumbed to a bout of [[pneumonia]] in the last week of August 2006, 18 days before she would have celebrated her 117th birthday.<ref>{{cite news|last1=BBC|title=World's oldest person dies at 116|date=28 August 2006 |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/5293436.stm|access-date=3 March 2015|archive-date=19 April 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120419185808/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/5293436.stm|url-status=live}}</ref>
==Age records==
Capovilla's records were submitted to Guinness on 27 August 2005, exactly one year before her death aged {{age in years and days|1889|9|14|2005|8|27}}, and was named the World's Oldest Person by Guinness World Records on 9 December 2005 aged {{age in years and days|1889|9|14|2005|12|9}}, thus superseding both [[Hendrikje van Andel-Schipper]] of the Netherlands thought to be the world's oldest person from 29 May 2004 to 30 August 2005, when she died, and [[Elizabeth Bolden]] of the United States, thought to be the world's oldest person from 30 August 2005 to 9 December 2005.<ref name=Maier>{{cite book|title= Supercentenarians|last= Maier|first= Heiner|year= 2010|publisher= Springer|isbn= 978-3-642-11519-6|pages= 256|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=0Fjkhcn3oeIC|ref= S2010|access-date= 4 October 2016|archive-date= 31 December 2013|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20131231172728/http://books.google.com/books?id=0Fjkhcn3oeIC|url-status= live}} ([http://www.demogr.mpg.de/books/drm/007/3-3.pdf pdf] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303180056/http://www.demogr.mpg.de/books/drm/007/3-3.pdf |date=3 March 2016 }})</ref> Capovilla was added to the Guinness website on 12 April 2006 aged {{age in years and days|1889|9|14|2006|4|12|sep=and}}.<ref>{{cite news |title=Ecuadorian Usurps Tennessean as World's Oldest Person (Update2) |first=Alex |last=Morales |publisher=[[Bloomberg L.P.]] |date=2005-12-14 |url=https://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=abIJjQtBtd8g |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151020113424/http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=abIJjQtBtd8g |archive-date=2015-10-20 |url-status=dead }}</ref>
At the time of her death aged 116 years and 347 days, Capovilla was originally believed to have been the fourth-oldest verified person to have ever lived. However, because of the validation of 117-year old Delphia Welford on 29 April 2023, meant that she was the fifth-oldest. Capovilla had been the oldest verified [[South American]] until [[:pt:Francisca Celsa dos Santos|Francisca Celsa dos Santos]] from Brazil surpassed her age on 4 October 2021 and died the next day. María Capovilla was also the last living person verified to have been born in the 1880s.
Following her death on 27 August 2006, her successor as oldest person was [[Elizabeth Bolden]]. Bolden became only the second person to be considered the world's oldest person on two occasions (Frenchwoman and all-time world recordholder [[Jeanne Calment]] was the first).<ref name=Maier />
==See also==
*[[List of the verified oldest people]]
*[[List of the oldest people by country]]
==References==
{{reflist}}
==External links==
*[http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2005/12/10/1134086848291.html The word from the world's oldest person (with photo)]
*[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/5293436.stm World's Oldest Woman dies at 116]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20060719201539/http://www.catholic.org/international/international_story.php?id=17942 Ecuadoran woman who once drank donkey milk is now world's oldest (with family photo)]
*[http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/english/doc/2005-12/17/content_504244.htm Ecuadorean woman, 116, is world's oldest (story notes Mrs Capovilla walks with assistance, not unaided)]
{{Navbox oldest people}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Capovilla, Maria}}
[[Category:1889 births]]
[[Category:2006 deaths]]
[[Category:Deaths from pneumonia in Ecuador]]
[[Category:Ecuadorian women centenarians]]
[[Category:People from Guayaquil]]
[[Category:Women supercentenarians]]
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