Oldest Woman in the World is a Picture of Good Health

Upon his return from ECUADOR, Robert Young provided us with the two photos below.

December 11, 2005; Quito, ECUADOR (Reuters and The Herald Sun of Melbourne, AUSTRALIA) -- - A 116-year-old Ecuadorian woman was declared "the oldest living person in the world" yesterday, lifting the title from a U.S. woman previously thought to be the oldest person alive, Guinness World Records said. Sra. Maria Esther Capovilla was confirmed as the oldest living person after her family sent details of her Birth and Marriage Certificates to Guinness World Records. "We only told her yesterday she was the new Guinness World Record holder," the Brand Manager at the records publisher, Ms. Kate White, said.

"We hadn't heard of her before. She's in very good health, she's got good eye sight, is able to read the papers and watch television and doesn't walk with a cane." Sra. Capovilla was born in Guayaquil, a port city on the Pacific Coast of Western Ecuador, on September 14, 1889, and lives there with her Daughter-in-law and her Son.

She had five Children and has four Grandchildren, nine Great-Grandchildren and two Great- Great-Grandchildren. One of her Granddaughters currently lives in Miami, FL. Her husband passed away in 1949. Ms. White said Sra. Capovilla had been asked what she thought about the changes she had seen over her life. She said she "disliked the fact that presently it's acceptable for women to pursue men." And she said that "every day she thanks God that she's alive." As a girl at the turn of the century, one of Mrs Capovilla's favorite pastimes was going to parties, but she never drank alcohol. At the time, it was the custom for women to "just touch the rim of the glass with their lips without drinking, as a sign of accepting hospitality," her family said.

Elizabeth Bolden, from Memphis, TN, born August 15, 1890, had previously been regarded as the oldest living person.

Ref.: London, "A Word from the World's Oldest Person," theage.com.au (December 11, 2005).