Born as María Esther Heredia Lecaro in Guayaquil, she 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 Antonio Capovilla, who was a military officer. An ethnic Italian, Antonio was born in Pola, Austria-Hungary. He moved to Chile in 1894 and then to Ecuador in 1910. After his first wife died, he married María. Together they had five children, three of whom were still living at the time of María's death: Hilda, Irma and son Anibal. She also had twelve grandchildren, twenty great-grandchildren and two great-great-grandchildren. At age 100, Capovilla nearly died and was given last rites, but had been free of health problems since then. In December 2005, at the age of 116, Maria was in good health for someone of her age and watched TV, read the paper and walked without the aid of a stick. Capovilla was unable to leave her home in the two years before her death and she shared her home with her eldest daughter Hilda, and her son-in-law. In a media interview Capovilla stated her dislike of the fact that women nowadays are permitted to court men, rather than the reverse. In March 2006, however, Capovilla's health had declined, and she was not able to read the newspaper any more. She had nearly stopped talking and no longer walked except when helped by two people. Still, Capovilla was able to sit in her chair and fan herself, and had been doing fine until she succumbed to a bout of pneumonia in the last week of August 2006, 18 days before she would have celebrated her 117th birthday.
Age records
Capovilla's records were submitted to Guinness on 27 August 2005, exactly one year before her death at the age of, and was named the World's Oldest Person by Guinness World Records on 9 December 2005 at the age of, thus superseding both Hendrikje van Andel-Schipper of the Netherlands thought to be the world's oldest person from 29 May 2004 to 30 August 2005, when she died, and Elizabeth Bolden of the United States, thought to be the world's oldest person from 30 August 2005 to 9 December 2005. Capovilla was added to the Guinness website on 12 April 2006 at the age of. At the time of her death at age 116 years, 347 days, Capovilla was the fifth-oldest verified person to have ever lived. Capovilla is still currently the oldest verified South American to have ever lived. She is also the last verified person to have been born in the 1880s. Following her death on 27 August 2006, her successor as oldest person was Elizabeth Bolden. Bolden became only the second person to be considered the world's oldest person on two separate occasions.
