{"id":8678,"date":"2025-03-05T14:20:29","date_gmt":"2025-03-05T14:20:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/strongermarriages\/?p=8678"},"modified":"2025-03-05T14:20:29","modified_gmt":"2025-03-05T14:20:29","slug":"couple-married-for-a-record-breaking-84-years-shares-one-word-secret-to-a-happy-marriage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/strongermarriages\/2025\/03\/couple-married-for-a-record-breaking-84-years-shares-one-word-secret-to-a-happy-marriage.html","title":{"rendered":"Couple Married For a Record-Breaking 84 Years Shares One-Word Secret to a Happy Marriage"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_8681\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-8681\" style=\"width: 1200px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-8681\" src=\"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/413\/2025\/03\/Dino-Marriage_credit-Jam-Press.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1200\" height=\"900\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-8681\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Jam Press<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>They say love is timeless, and Brazilian couple Manoel Angelim Dino and Maria de Sousa Dino are living proof. At 105 and 101 years old, the devoted pair has been married for an astounding 84 years, officially setting the record for the longest marriage of a living couple.<\/p>\n<p>Manoel and Maria first crossed paths in 1936 while working in agriculture for their families. Manoel, on a trip to the Almeida region in the Boa Viagem district to collect a shipment of rapaduras (a traditional Brazilian candy), met Maria for the first time. But their story didn\u2019t truly begin until a chance encounter years later changed everything.<\/p>\n<p>It wasn\u2019t until around 1940 that fate brought them together again. This time, Manoel knew he couldn\u2019t let her slip away. Smitten at first (well, technically second) sight, he boldly declared his love and asked Maria out. She said yes.<\/p>\n<p>However, Maria\u2019s mother was initially against their relationship. Determined to win over her family, Manoel worked hard to prove himself. He even began building a home for the life he dreamed of sharing with Maria. His perseverance paid off, and soon, they were married.<\/p>\n<p>Throughout their long marriage, Manoel and Maria built a life rooted in hard work and devotion. They both worked in agriculture, growing and cultivating rolled tobacco\u00a0while raising an impressive 13 children\u2014nine of whom are still living. Their family grew to include 55 grandchildren, 60 great-grandchildren, and 14 great-great-grandchildren.<\/p>\n<p>These days, the couple enjoys a quieter life together. Due to his age, Manoel spends much of his time resting, but each evening, he makes a point to join Maria for their cherished nightly tradition. They sit side by side, listening to the rosary prayer on the radio before watching Mass on TV.<\/p>\n<p>After 84 years together, what\u2019s their secret?<\/p>\n<p>Maria, who recently celebrated her birthday with a butterfly-themed cake, had a simple answer: love.<\/p>\n<p>The previous record for the longest-living marriage was held by American couple Herbert and Zelmyra Fisher, who were married for 86 years and 290 days before Herbert\u2019s passing in 2011. In 2010, former President Barack Obama honored them with a signed commendation.<\/p>\n<p>The longest marriage <em>ever recorded<\/em> was between David Jacob Hiller (born in 1789) and Sarah Davy Hiller (born in 1792). They remained married for 88 years and 349 days, until Sarah\u2019s passing in 1898 at the age of 106.<\/p>\n<p>With their enduring love story, Manoel and Maria continue to inspire generations, proving that love, patience, and faith truly stand the test of time.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>They say love is timeless, and Brazilian couple Manoel Angelim Dino and Maria de Sousa Dino are living proof. At 105 and 101 years old, the devoted pair has been married for an astounding 84 years, officially setting the record for the longest marriage of a living couple. Manoel and Maria first crossed paths in&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":462,"featured_media":8681,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fbia_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8678","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Couple Married For a Record-Breaking 84 Years Shares One-Word Secret to a Happy Marriage<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Married for a record-breaking 84 years, Manoel Angelim Dino and Maria de Sousa Dino share their simple secret to a lasting marriage.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" 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