Two centenarians have been awarded the Guinness World Record for the longest marriage for a living couple.
Manoel Angelim Dino, 105, and Maria de Sousa Dino, 101, first met in 1936 but didn’t start a relationship until four years later.
Manoel travelled to Boa Viagem, Brazil, to collect a shipment of sweets when he first encountered the love of his life.
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They met by chance in 1940 and hit it off again.
Manoel then declared his love for Maria and she accepted.
However, the love-struck young man had to prove his worth to Maria’s family as her mother was unsure at first.
He began building a home for Maria and quickly earned her family’s approval.
They tied the knot at the chapel of Boa Ventura in Ceará later the same year.
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At the time, Brazil had yet to win a single World Cup and WWII was breaking out in Europe.
The couple cultivated tobacco to support their family of 13 children over the decades.
Today, they have 55 grandchildren, 54 great-grandchildren, and 12 great-great-grandchildren.
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Now both centenarians spend their days relaxing at home.
Every evening, they both sit down in the living room to listen to religious services on the radio and watch a televised mass.
When asked about the secret to their long marriage, Maria simply said: “Love.
“And that’s something even the most advanced computer could never calculate.”
Manoel and Maria have been happily married for 84 years and 80 days.
They have been awarded the title of the longest marriage for a living couple, as reported by What’s The Jam.
Guinness World Records verified the duration of their marriage with the help of LongeviQuest, a website that tracks data about centenarians.
The previous record belonged to American couple Herbert Fisher, born 1905, and Zelmyra Fisher, born 1907.
They were together for 86 years and 290 days until Herbert passed away on 27 February 2011.
The longest-ever recorded marriage belongs to David Jacob Hiller, born in 1789, and Sarah Davy Hiller, born in 1792.
After tying the knot in Canada in 1809, their union lasted an incredible 88 years and 349 days until Sarah passed away in 1898.
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