Ana Maria Vela Rubio, the oldest ever person from Spain died

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At the age of 116, the Spanish Ana Vela dies, the longest person in Europe
Born in Puente Genil on October 29, 1901, the old woman had celebrated her 116th birthday only a month and a half ago.

Ana Vela daughter (i) of 88 years, with her mother, who until this Friday was the longest woman in Europe with 116 years, in the residence La Verneda, Barcelona.

Ana Vela, the longest-lived woman in Europe, has died at 3:30 this morning in the La Verneda home for the elderly. Born in Puente Genil on October 29, 1901, Vela had celebrated her 116th birthday only a month and a half ago. "He has died quietly in his bed sleeping, without suffering", tell EL PAÍS from the center where he lived. His 90-year-old daughter, also called Ana Vela -he had used the last name of a father who was never at home- had been living in the same facility for four months. "They have had luck, as our daughter told us this morning when we told her of her mother's death, of being able to enjoy these last months together and of being able to celebrate her birthday a little over a month ago," added the center's sources.

Andalusian by birth but Catalan by adoption since his arrival in the region in the forties, Vela had become in recent times a symbol of longevity in Spain, the second country in the world with the highest life expectancy, 83 years, only behind Japan. This reality was well reflected in the ranking prepared by the Gerontological Research Group: Ana Vela was the third longest person in the world only behind two Japanese women.

The great tragedy of the European who had kept her eyes open until last night was not being able to tell what they had seen during the 116 years and 42 days of her existence. A period of an extent that can hardly be imagined as encompassable in a single life: it has witnessed the arrival of the Second Republic, the Civil War, two dictatorships, or the birth and disappearance of ETA terrorism. After a life with hardly any health problems, a rupture of the femur at 109 years from which it had to be operated accelerated its deterioration. "It affected him a lot, since then he was not walking," said Antonio Vela, one of his 65-year-old grandchildren. One of the last times he saw her was at the party of his 116th birthday, to which he went with a great-grandchild and two great-great-grandchildren of the old woman.

Ana Vela, dressmaker by profession, went to record per year. At 114 he became the person born in Spain who has lived the longest in history. And at 115, with the death of the Italian Emma Morano, she was the third Spanish to set herself up as the oldest in the continent, a witness that now gives way to another Italian, Maria Giuseppa Robucci.

During an interview in 2016 in the courtyard of the residence, her daughter, sitting next to her, encouraged her mother to talk: "Mom, mom, do not you want to talk? It's negative," she surrendered to his silence. Until he moved permanently with his mother, he visited her daily. "He liked a little glass of semi-sweet wine in his meal, but he did not have the habit of drinking a lot, he ate everything, he liked meat, fish, vegetables ... He had a very normal diet," he explained. Candle daughter about her eating habits. She also recalled anecdotes from past times: "When I was young I had a devouring appetite, if I was making food while she was sewing, she would say," Anita, sing! "It was a way of knowing that I was not eating what I was cooking" .

The strength of the recently deceased was a recurrent reason for conversation on the part of the staff of the residence, who saw her appear at 103 years with an unusual ease. He participated in all activities and was aware of what was happening in the world. "He only needed a cane, he loved music therapy and he read the newspaper every day," recalls María Rosa Martín, a psychologist at the public center, managed by the Health and Community Foundation and the Lagunduz Group.

Ana Vela's grandson also has grandchildren. Like that, the examples that can be put to try to get an idea of ​​what it means to live 116 years are multiple. He was born under the regency of Maria Cristina de Habsburgo, the great grandmother of the current King, and during the dictatorship of Miguel Primo de Rivera he was already the mother of three children. When, a year and a half ago, we asked her daughter how much she thought her mother would live, she replied: "That is unpredictable, as long as you do not miss eating and sleeping well ... I think it will last a long time". This Friday, December 15, 2017, the Spanish that brushed the nineteenth century has said goodbye.