Maria do Couto Maia-Lopes
- Full name: Maria do Couto
- Lifespan: 24.10.1890 – 25.06.2005
- Age: 114 years, 274 days
- Birthplace: Grijo, Porto District, Portugal
- Last residence: Grijo, Porto District, Portugal
- Application date: N/A
- Validation date: 20.12.2003
- Validation source: Filipe Prista Lucas
Biography
Maria do Couto Maia-Lopes was born on 24 October 1890 in Grijo, Porto District, Portugal to Jose do Couto e Silva and Rosa de Sousa Maia.
She remembered the day on which the last king of Portugal, “D. Manuel II” visited the nearby town of Espinho on 23 November 1908.
In her later years, Maia-Lopes was nearly deaf and blind. She lived with her daughter Rosa Lopes Couto, who was one of her three remaining children at the time. She raised her daughters by herself and was still active on a field of one of her grandchildren until age 106. Despite being bedridden after a 2002 accident with boiling water that burned her feet, she was not sick, took no medications and still had a good apetite. She had eight daughters, seven grandchildren, ten great-grandchildren and five great-great-grandchildren in total. Her husband died in 1946.
She died in Grijo, Porto District, Portugal on 25 July 2005 at the age of 114 years, 274 days. At the time of her death she was the oldest living person in Portugal and was the oldest person ever from Portugal until 2008, when Maria de Jesus surpassed her age. Maia-Lopes became the oldest known living person in Portugal after the death of 109-year-old Jose Ferreira Andrade on 22 February 2000 and held the title until her death five years later. At the time of her death, she was also the second-oldest living person in Europe, behind Hendrikje van Andel-Schipper of the Netherlands and the world’s fifth oldest living person, behind Maria Capovilla, Elizabeth Bolden, Hendrikje van Andel-Schipper, and Bettie Wilson.
Coincidentally, one of her great-granddaughters married the grandson of Augusto Moreira de Oliveira, the oldest man ever from Portugal.
Longevity titles
Doyenne of Portugal (22.02.2000-25.06.2005)
Validation
Maria do Couto Maia-Lopes age was verified by Filipe Prista Lucas and validated by the GRG on December 20th 2003.
Maria do Couto, date unknown.