Maria Branyas had to be spoken to very close to her ear, but her reasoning ability was intact. Although he often struggled to continue his speech, he spoke fluently. His memories were very selective. Sometimes he recovered passages from his long life very clearly, like the first time he watched television, on the occasion of the wedding of Baudouin of Belgium and Fabiola, and instead he got lost in the vines of memory in the face of many personal questions. His gaze was very lively despite the fact that his eyes were gradually losing vision. But what really admired me was his smile, lucid and kind, with the benevolence of someone who listens without expecting anything in return.
When I went to see her at the Santa Maria del Tura residence in Olot in October 2019, Maria Branyas was 112 years old and the oldest person in Catalonia, but she was not yet listed as the grandmother of humanity. He was very kind to me. He was astonished at the interest of a journalist, although that led him to remember that his father and a sister worked in the media. He kept telling me that I hadn’t done anything to deserve the attention, but I tried to tell him, although I don’t know if it was successful, that I was writing a report on ‘supercentenarians’, people over 110 years old. And without meaning to, he gave me a great headline: “I have done nothing but live.”
His gaze was very lively despite the fact that his eyes were gradually losing vision. But what really admired me was his smile, lucid and kind, with the benevolence of someone who listens without expecting anything in return.
Maria was grumbling at that time because in recent months they had put her on a diet and allowed her few indulgences, like a piece of cake for every birthday. And she proudly explained that she had never made an effort to take excessive care of herself, nor had she worried about exercise or nutrition. He had lived, he insisted. He assured that his longevity had no secrets, nor could he give recommendations to extend life. His only advice was to live. And take it with good humor, just as he did no matter how many times it evoked somewhat sad experiences.
The reason why her genetics were so generous over the years was left in the hands of the doctor and researcher Manel Esteller, who led a series of studies to unravel the biological miracle of the Catalan woman born in San Francisco in 1907. Precisely, the ship Returning to the United States was one of his vivid memories. And the wars, the world wars and the Spanish civil war.
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When Esteller became interested in her genes, Maria Branyas was already the oldest living person in the world. He occupied that honorary throne at the age of 115, three years after our meeting. It was then that the family had put a stop to journalists’ access. His health had already begun to decline and the receptions at the residence stopped.
The conversation with Maria Branyas lasted half an hour, enough time to realize that there is no longevity without pain, that no matter how much we want to live, those close to us are passing away. At her age Maria had already lost a son. Her husband died when he was 72 years old. They spent 40 years together and as many widows. But he had no reproaches. Always smiling, acting as a grandmother unconditionally.
Maria survived a son and spent 40 years together with her husband and as many widows. But he had no reproaches. Always smiling, acting as a grandmother unconditionally
She said goodbye, wishing me to write a good article and have a good life while the residence director walked her in her wheelchair to the elevator. Coming out, the autumn sun cast a gust of melancholy. I didn’t see her again. The family had decided that the news would be explained through social networks. She appeared on Twitter when she became the grandmother of humanity. And when he turned 117, the last ones he celebrated. Statistics show that he has been the eighth person who has lived the longest in history, but I prefer to think that it was a ‘supercentennial’ smile, of someone who only cared about living.
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