Last known survivor of 19th century dies at 117

ROME: Emma Morano ( pix), an Italian woman believed to have been the oldest person alive and the last survivor of the 19th century, died on Saturday at the age of 117, Italian media reported.

Morano, born on Nov 29, 1899, died at her home in Verbania, in northern Italy, the reports said.

“She had an extraordinary life, and we will always remember her strength to move forward in life,” said Silvia Marchionini, the mayor of Verbania.

According to the US-based Gerontology Research Group, Morano ceded the crown of the world’s oldest human being to Jamaican Violet Brown, who was born on March 10, 1900.

Morano’s death, at the age of 117 years and 137 days, means there is no one living known to have been born before 1900.

Her first love died in World War I, but she married later and left her violent husband just before the World War II and shortly after the death in infancy of her only son. That was 30 years before divorce became legal in Italy.

She had clung to her independence, only taking on a full-time carer a couple of years ago, though she had not left her small tworoom apartment for 20 years.

She had been bed-bound during her latter years.

In an interview with AFP last year, she put her longevity down to her diet.

“I eat two eggs a day, and that’s it. And cookies. But I do not eat much because I have no teeth,” she said in her home at the time.

She also refused to be taken to hospital, with the exception of a cataract operation. Her eyesight did become very poor and latterly spent much of her days sleeping. But she kept her sense of humour till the end.

“How does my hair look,” she asked before blowing out the candles on her 117th birthday cake last year.

“Her sense of humour is her therapy,” said Yamile Vergara, her nurse for more than 40 years. – AFP