Jalisco’s oldest woman celebrated her birthday last week. She turned 118 on July 20.

María Félix Nava was born at the turn of the 20th century in Zacatecas and her earliest memories are of the 1910 Revolution, which cost the lives of both her parents.

After living alone for some years, a woman named Jesusita took her in after which her godfather found her.

He had spent years looking for Félix and her siblings, but she was the only one he found.

Félix married at the age of 22 and gave birth to 10 children, but only four are still alive today. She lives with two of them in Tlaquepaque, where she has been for almost half a century, earning the esteem of her neighbors and 52 grandchildren, great-grandchildren and great-great-grandchildren, who affectionately call her Mariquita.

Despite her age, Félix is self-employed. She gets up every day at 6:00am, eats breakfast and takes a table out to the sidewalk, where she sells candy. Her modest business gives her a chance to get out and talk with people.

Félix remembers the war of the Revolution with sorrow but believes Mexico is living through its most violent period today.

“. . . I don’t know what’s happening now. Don’t they have compassion, don’t they have a heart?” she asked of those who inflict the violence. “Does the soul not hurt to cut people up like animals?”

The 1910 revolution “was very tough but you know, my son, at night I get sad and cry because my heart warns me that another revolution is coming. God forbid, but I see what’s going to happen; presidents promise water but give only air.”

Source: El Universal (sp)