Born as María Ester Heredia Lecaro in Guayaquil, María was the daughter of a colonel, and lived a life among the upper-class elite, attending social functions and art classes. She never smoked or drank hard liquor. In 1917, she married a military officer, Antonio Capovilla, who died in 1949. Antonio, an ethnic Italian, was born in Pola, Austria-Hungary (now Pula, Croatia) in 1864. He moved to Chile in 1894 and then to Ecuador in 1910. After his first wife died, he married María. They had five children, three of whom were still living at her passing (the oldest two have died): Hilda, 81; Irma, 80; and son Anibal, 78. She also had eleven grandchildren, twenty great-grandchildren, and two great-great-grandchildren.[2]
At age 100, María nearly died and was given last rites, but had been free of health problems since then. As recently as December 2005 Maria was said to be in good health and able to watch TV, read the papers and walk without the aid of a stick (though she is helped by an aide). However, she was unable physically to leave her home in the past two years, which she shared with her eldest surviving daughter, Hilda, and her son-in-law. In a media interview, María stated her dislike of the fact that women nowadays are permitted to court men, rather than the reverse. She is the 5th-oldest fully documented and officially validated person to have ever lived (sixth if the questionable case of Shigechiyo Izumi is counted) and was the last recognized surviving person of the 1880s.
Very impressive 
