Matena Zokova

Matena Zokova Zlatilova (Bulgarian: Матена Зокова Златилова; born 13 January 1910) is a Bulgarian centenarian who, at the age of, has been Bulgaria's oldest living person since the passing of Pavel Vasilev Hristov in May 2017.

Early life
Matena Zokova was born on 13 January 1910 in village Mega Dereio (Bulgarian: Голям Дервент), Eastern Macedonia and Thrace, Greece (then Kingdom of Bulgaria). Her grandfather, her uncle and her father built a large house with the intention of living with whole family. In 1913, Ottomans burned their house and killed Matena's uncle and granduncle. During Second Balkan War, her family became part of the Thracian Bulgarians (refugees). In escaping, seeing the Ottomans catch up with them, Matena's mother, running away with her eldest son, and then 3-years-old Matena, caught her with her hands and tried to run away, but Matena managed to hide and she stayed hidden from Ottomans for 3 days, until her family found her. They managed to escape and reach the Lambuh village.

Later life
She married Atanas Zlatilov and had two sons with him, Ivan and Kolyo. Her husband passed away in 1992/1993. Ivan passed away in 1993 in Sofia and Kolyo passed away c. 2016.

On her 105th birthday, she was visited by Mayor of Ivailovgrad municipality, Diana Ovcharova. Since 2014, she lives in nursing home in Ivaylovgrad. Even in her 100s, she was able to beat the church bell in Lambuh. She have grandson who lives in Sofia, Bulgaria and the granddaughter who lives in the Czech Republic. In 2017, she also had 2 great-grandchildren.

In May 2017, Matena became oldest living person in Bulgaria, following the death of 107-years-old Pavel Vasilev Hristov. In April 2018, she was admitted to the hospital due to abdominal pain.