Home>News Center>Life
         
 

Ecuadorean woman, 116, is world's oldest
(AP)
Updated: 2005-12-17 10:40

She always ate three meals a day and never smoked or drank hard liquor �� "only a small cup of wine with lunch and nothing more," Irma said.

For the past 20 years, Capovilla has lived with her elder daughter, Hilda, and son-in-law, Martin.

Fervently religious, Capovilla says her prayers daily, takes communion every Friday and always joins the family for meals, enjoying lentils and chicken for lunch, which she eats unassisted with fork and knife in small bites, Irma said.

At night, she has coffee with hot milk and bread with cheese or jam, and she says she can't do without something sweet: gelatin, ice cream or cake.

Capovilla still likes to watch television and reads newspaper headlines, with some difficulty, but never with glasses. She has not been able to leave the house in nearly two years. A home assistant helps her walk without the aid of a cane or wheelchair.

In recent years, her family said, she has become less communicative as her hearing worsened and her memory has started to fade. "Her memory is not bad. She remembers many things, but not everything. She is not 100 percent lucid," said Irma.

Irma and Hilda showed Capovilla a portrait of their father, an Austrian sailor who came to Ecuador in 1910. After peering intently for a moment, Capovilla recognized the image.

"It is Antonio Capovilla," she said.

"I was at the plantation Josefina and they brought a friend," she said, explaining in a soft voice how she was introduced to the man who would become her husband.


Page: 12



A Chinese Tall Story premieres in Singapore
The Promise premieres in Shanghai
Charlize Theron
  Today's Top News     Top Life News
 

Closing gap between haves and have-nots

 

   
 

145 Chinese businessmen released in Manila

 

   
 

US lawmakers demand spy program probe

 

   
 

Corrupt Guizhou road chief executed

 

   
 

Olympic triathlon hopeful killed by car

 

   
 

Hospital fire kills 39 in Northeast China

 

   
  Culture wars: Chinese actresses, Japanese roles
   
  Academician's utterance on miner death booed
   
  Report illustrates huge gap between rich, poor
   
  Time Warner enters into talks with Google
   
  Ecuadorean woman, 116, is world's oldest
   
  Chicago bar serves up 950 dollar cocktail
   
 
  Go to Another Section  
 
 
  Story Tools  
   
  Feature  
  Could China's richest be the tax cheaters?  
Manufacturers, Exporters, Wholesalers - Global trade starts here.
Advertisement