“Grandmother of the Balearics” Mado Magdalena Gelabert Mascaro dies at 108

Joan Collins MADO Magdalena Gelabert Mascaro, known as the “Grandmother of the Balearics”, died yesterday aged 108. She had been admitted to Clinica Planas in Palma last week after her health had deteriorated. She was also known as “Mado Magdalena de S'Hort de Ca'n Falconer”. After she was admitted to hospital her family were confident that she would recover, but she was unable to. Her death has caused shock and bewilderment among the residents of Algaida, the town where she was born. She was buried yesterday afternoon at 5pm in the municipal cemetery in Algaida. The funeral mass in her memory will be held today at 8pm in the Iglesia de Sant Pere i Sant Pau in Algaida. Magdalena was not only witness to the history of Majorca, but to that of other countries as well. Like many other Majorcan families, at the beginning of the 20th century Magdalena experienced at first hand the phenomenon of immigration when her husband went to Havana in Cuba to seek a better future for his family. That was only one of the changes that happened to the centenarian. Years later she saw her son participate in the civil war. Magdalena Gelabert Mascaro was born in Algaida in 1897 to a poor family. She married and had four children (Joan, Melcion, Jaume and Margalida). She spent many years of her life in El Hort de Ca'n Falconer, where she occupied herself with farming matters. Mado Magdalena, who would have been 109 in June, lived her last years surrounded by the love of her nearest relatives, and also with the help and support of all the residents of her native town.