The French sister André, 118, held the title of dean of humanity until her death on January 17.

A 115-year-old American-born Spanish great-grandmother is expected to succeed him, a Guinness World Records consultant said on Wednesday.

Maria Branyas Morera has been a resident of the Santa Maria del Tura retirement home in the town of Olot in northeastern Spain for 20 years.

The care home said it would be hosting a 'small party' behind closed doors in the coming days to 'celebrate this very special event'.

“She is in good health and is surprised and grateful for the interest aroused”, specifies the establishment.

Guinness World Records senior gerontology consultant Robert D. Young said Maria Branyas Morera as the new oldest human being was "probable".

"But it's not confirmed at this time," he said.

She never went to the hospital

The Guinness organization must make an official decision after checking official documents and interviewing the family of Maria Branyas Morera.

The latter survived the 1918 flu pandemic (also called the Spanish flu), two world wars and the Spanish Civil War.

The youngest daughter of the centenarian, Rosa Moret, 78, praised her mother's good health, which she said was due to "genetics".

"She never went to the hospital, she never broke anything," Rosa Moret told Catalan regional television on Wednesday.

11 grandchildren and 11 great-grandchildren

Maria Branyas Morera was born in San Francisco on March 4, 1907, shortly after her Spanish-born family moved from Mexico to the United States.

Her family then moved to New Orleans in 1910, before returning to Spain in 1915. In 1931, she married a doctor, who died at the age of 72.

She had three children, one of whom is already deceased, 11 grandchildren and 11 great-grandchildren.

The French sister André, born Lucile Randon on February 11, 1904 in Alès, in the south of France, was since April 2022 the dean of known humanity.

She died in her sleep overnight from Monday to Tuesday at her retirement home in Toulon, southern France.



No official body

No official organization assigns these titles of dean or dean, but specialists agreed that Sister André was so far the oldest living person whose marital status had been verified.

The Guinness Book of Records also recorded this record on April 25, after the death at 119 of Japanese Kane Tanaka.

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