Maria Felix Nava | |
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Birth: | 20 July 1900? Zacatecas, Mexico |
Death: | 22 March 2020 Tlaquepaque, Mexico |
Age: | 119 years, 246 days? |
Country: | ![]() |
Longevity claimant |
Maria Felix Nava (also known as Dona Mariquita; 20 July 1900? – 22 March 2020) was a Mexican longevity claimant who claimed to be world's oldest living person. Her age is currently unvalidated by the Guinness World Records (GWR).
Early life
Maria Felix Nava was born in Mexico. According to a birth certificate issued by the municipal government of Tlaquepaque in 2000 (original was lost in the Revolution), Maria was born on 20 July 1900. Her father was killed because he was a supporter of rebel Pancho Villa during the Mexican Revolution and her mother kidnapped when she was a young child. Her two siblings later disappeared in the 1910-1920 Mexican Revolution. At age of 7 she became orphan. She said that she "grew up like an animal on the street”. Maria lived on the charity of others or cleaning houses for food.
At age of 22 she married and get first children aged 23. She had 10 children (6 deceased).
Later life
Her husband died when she was in her 80s. Maria has 20 grandchildren, 53 great-grandchildren and 23 great-great-grandchildren. She credited her longevity to God and described a diet of stewed beans, nopal cactus, greens and the Mexican fruit pinguica.
Felix Nava died in Tlaquepaque, Mexico on 22 March 2020 at the claimed age of 119 years, 246 days.
Sources
- At 116, María Félix too old for debit card
- ‘They told me the limit was 110 years’: 116-year-old woman denied bank card in Mexico
- Nopales y verdolagas, el secreto de la mexicana María Félix para llegar a los 116 años
- María Félix Nava, una abuela de 115 años
- 119th birthday Facebook, 23 July 2019
- A los 119 años murió Mariquita, la abuela que no cobraba la jubilación por ser “demasiado vieja Clarin, 9 April 2020