World's oldest person dies in Ecuador

GUAYAQUIL, Ecuador (AP) -- Maria Esther de Capovilla, the oldest person on Earth according to Guinness World Records, was laid to rest Monday in a simple ceremony after dying from pneumonia at the age of 116.
Capovilla died Sunday in a hospital in the coastal city of Guayaquil two days after getting sick, said her granddaughter Catherine Capovilla. She was interred in a family tomb in a marble-columned mausoleum within the city limits.
Born on Sept. 14, 1889 -- the same year as Charlie Chaplin and Adolf Hitler -- Capovilla traced her lineage to Spanish nobility, but enjoyed drinking donkey milk in her youth. She was married in 1917 to an Austrian sailor who visited Ecuador and was widowed in 1949.
Shortly before she died, she kept repeating, "I want to be young again," her granddaughter Cecilia Icaza said.
Robert Young, senior consultant for Gerontology for Guinness World Records, said Elizabeth Bolden, of Memphis, Tenn., is the likely successor as the oldest person.
"Guinness World Records will have to make an official announcement from London," he said. "For all practical purposes, the next oldest person is going to be presumed to be Elizabeth Bolden. She is 116, but she was born 11 months after Capovilla."
Capovilla was confirmed as the oldest living person on Dec. 9, 2005, after her family sent details of her birth and marriage certificates to the British-based publisher. Emiliano Mercado Del Toro, of Puerto Rico, retains the title as oldest man. He turned 115 last Monday.
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