As of Feb. 5, Manoel Angelim Dino, 105, and wife Maria de Sousa Dino, 101, were verified as having been married for 84 years and 77 days.
The couple, from the rural municipality of Boa Viagem, first met around 1936 while working in agriculture alongside their respective families. Manoel had traveled to the Almeida region in Boa Viagem to collect a shipment of rapaduras, a traditional Brazilian candy, when he first crossed paths with Maria.
While nothing came of that initial meeting, the pair were brought together again years later and their decades-long love story began. They married in November 1940 when Manoel was 21 and Maria was 17.
Family tradition says Maria’s mother was opposed to the relationship at the start. Undeterred, a smitten Manoel patiently worked to win over his future-in-laws, even beginning to build a home for the family he hoped to start with Maria.
Asked what they believe the secret is to their long and happy marriage, Maria had a simple answer: love.
The previous record for the longest-living marriage was held by American couple Herbert Fisher and Zelmyra Fisher. They were married for 86 years and 290 days until Herbert’s death in February 2011.