by Dolapo Adelana

The world’s oldest person, Emma Morano died on Saturday at her home in Northern Italy aged 117, her physician said.

Speaking with the Associated Press via telephone, Dr. Carlo Bava said Morano’s caretaker had called him to say she had stopped breathing in the afternoon while sitting in an armchair at her home in Verbania, a town on Italy’s Lake Maggiore.

Bava said he had last seen his patient on Friday when “she thanked me and held my hand,” as she did every time he called on her.

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Bava had been her physician for nearly 25 years.

Morano, born on Nov. 29, 1899, and believed to be the last surviving person born in the 1800s had been living in a tidy, one-room apartment, where she was kept company by her caregiver and two elderly nieces.

“She didn’t suffer. I’m happy she didn’t suffer but passed away that way, tranquilly,” Bava said.

He said she had been her usual chatterbox self until a few weeks ago.

“She was slowly fading away,” Bava said.